Broken Youth: Life of Konoha Academy Teens
by KIMKIM14
Summary: In the modern ninja world the ninja arts are no longer important yet are a part of tradition. Now the current teens live a 'normal' school life as they seek for love. Story pairs: Sasusaku, Naruhina, SaIno, Nejiten, Shikatema and many more... Enjoy!
1. Intro

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)  
>Prologue<strong>_

For many generations people have been skilled in the ninja arts, but it hasn't always been that way. There was once a time in history when people knew nothing of shinobi not even of the existence of chakra. It's unknown exactly how ninjas came to be, the only thing known about their origin are the chakra scrolls. The chakra scrolls were the first to reveal to everyone the existence of chakra and how to manipulate it. Another mystery is the author of these scrolls. At one time the scrolls were tracked back in time to approximately the era when the legendary six path sage was presumed to roam the earth.  
>The six path sage is said to be only a myth but some truly believe he existed and that he was the first to find out about the special powers that people possessed. As legend states the six path sage saved the world from the destruction of a monstrous ten tailed beast. It was said that after he defeated the creature he took it's chakra and threw the body into the sky and it supposedly made what we now call the moon. The chakra of the ten tailed beast was to much for the sage to handle on his own so he placed a large portion of it into 9 animals. The creatures he chose were a raccoon, a cat, a turtle, a monkey, a horse, a slug, a beetle, an ox, and a fox. Some of those animals mutated and grew extra tails when the sage inserted the excess power, yet they were still harmless creatures even though they looked different and had an immense amounts of chakra. Although it's not certain that the six path sage ever existed, the 9 beasts really do. The people call the tailed beasts the bijuu. The bijuu somehow obtained immortality and are still living today.<p>

Once people figured out they could use chakra and began fighting amongst each other for power, they wanted to use the creatures as weapons for their own convenience; before that could happen a group of monks knowing the peoples intentions took and hid the bijuu and spread them throughout the nations as far as possible as they could. These monks became known as the first jinchuuriki or keepers of the bijuu.  
>A few generations after people learned how to control chakra they began forming clans and isolating themselves from each. People soon found out they could mix their chakra with the natural elements around them like: fire, water, earth, air and lighting. Clans within the same region could usually manipulate the same element because of the natural resources around them, this is how most of the nations got their names from. Usually each clan had one or several special techniques that only they could use. Some of the techniques were somehow genetically pass down, these are called Kekkei Genkai or Bloodline Limit. The ninja skills techniques people used were eventually categorized into three different groups: ninjutsu which usually involves hand signs and elements, taijutsu hand on hand or weapon combat and genjutsu which is playing tricks on the opponents mind and senses. As the clans expanded they began fighting more and more. During some of these battles even entire clans were wiped out.<br>People eventually got tired of the endless and pointless feuds, that many decided to congregate all the shinobi clans of a region and create a unified village. The first village created was Konohagakure aka _the hidden leaf_ like many call it. Konohagakure was located in the fire nation which had many strong shinobi. With the establishment of Konoha came the birth of the first Kage, the Hokage. The Hokage would be the leader of all the shinobi in the fire nation; some discussed that the Hokage would have too much power and overthrow the real nation's leader the feudal lord. They soon resolved the discussion and other nations soon followed Konoha's example and made their own hidden villages and Kage's.  
>Right after the villages were created word got out that all the bijuu for some reason were being held in the in the fire nation's fire temple people got mad because they thought Konoha would overflow in power and use the bijuu's power to destroy and conquer the other nations. The first Hokage didn't want to start a war over this so he decided to make a treaty where it divided the tailed beast amongst the five great nations. War was inevitable, soon after the the treaty was signed the new nations went to war. This time they fought for being the strongest nation. This war was wasn't like the others this one was truly devastating and lasted years it was eventually known as the first shinobi world war. When the war finally ended many people had perished along with two of the Hokages. There were short times of peace after that but two other world wars occurred as well. At the end of the third war a valid peace treaty was signed amongst all the shinobi nations and there hasn't been any conflict with it so far.<br>Now over a decade after the last world war there is a time of true peace. The world has changed for the better because of the peace. In this era people don't usually stay in the past, they look to the future and keep moving forward. It came to be like this towards the end of the third war when people started to focus more on modernizing than the war itself. After the war industry skyrocketed and the shinobi world completely changed. Weapons and justsus were replaced by phones and automobiles. The Hokage was nothing more than the city mayor now and the bijuu were no longer weapons now but mere pets. The quiet village turned into a busy city with giant skyscrapers and crowded roads. The modernization has made this a less violent world. Now a days the ninja arts aren't a significant part of the world like they once were yet they are still a part of tradition that can never be erased.  
>Today the current generation is being taught the differently then the generation before them. They are learning about more useful things than ninja arts. All schools, except Konoha Academy have completely stopped teaching their students the ninja arts. The other school believe teaching them would be pointless since they're no longer used and already they are taught by the student's family. The ninja arts are a small part of the academic curriculum in Konoha yet it's the major reason that motivates a lot of families from many nations to send their children there. Konoha Academy is a well known name yet not much is known about the school itself or about the individual people who attend there. The focus should now be turned to them because they hold the key to next part of history. This story in history will be of this generation and how they lived their lives before, during and after entering Konoha Academy.<p> 


	2. Remember1:1

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)  
>CH1.1 Remember<strong>_

'I think it's strange that when we're children we are so eager to grow up, but when we're older we wish we could go back.' Thought Sakura to herself.  
>Sakura laid flat on her back in the middle of an open meadow. The field was full of withering flowers and the crisp grass which had faded into a brown olive color. Both her hands were set behind her head and her eyes shut. She was enjoying the warm sun, which would peep through the clouds overhead, and made her cheeks a soft pink. A slight breeze blew about her, moving the blades of grass along with her long-luscious-pretty-pink-hair. Above her the clouds seemed to dance in the endless blue sky. Her breath was soft just like the breeze, that was swiftly carrying some cherry blossom petals from a late blooming tree which stood at the far end of the vast meadow, the petals gently fluttered down and landed along side Sakura's tranquil body. As she laid there it gave the impression that she was in a deep slumber, yet she wasn't for her mind was not dreaming but in thought, remembering the faint memory of her childhood. The memories that she was recollecting and that were permanently engraved in her brain were those of the events, that had occurred in that very meadow many years ago.<br>Sakura thought to herself again. 'As I look back to my childhood, I think of how ignorant I once was. When I was young everything was so simple . The world to me was a beautiful place, I didn't see the hate that people carried, but only the love they showed one another. Back then I thought of everyone as equals, but fate soon taught me that not everybody thought the same.'

**Nine and a half years earlier:**  
>It was late spring and the meadow was full of gorgeous flowers. There were hundreds of them and of all different kinds. A beautiful six year old Sakura went around picking flowers and making a nice little bouquet. Sakura wore a dark blue long sleeve shirt with holes running down the sleeves. She was also wearing a red skirt with black leggings. Her hair was short, not quite touching her shoulders, and it was accompanied with some shaggy bangs which covered her entire forehead and part of her eyes. She had a warm smile on her face and her eyes were bright with joy.<br>When she was finished picking her flowers she knelt down in the middle of the field and began arranging them. The meadow was full of other young girls who were also picking flowers here and there. All of a sudden a group of older girls approached Sakura though she didn't notice them until she heard them giggling. She looked up and in front of her she saw three girls: a blonde, a redhead, and a brunette.  
>The redhead was in the middle of the other girls and was the first one to talk. She said, "Nice flowers, Pinky."<br>"Thank you," Sakura said politely with a warm grin.  
>"What's your name?" asked the redhead.<br>"Sakura," was her reply.  
>"Sakura, can I see your flowers?" asked the girl.<br>"Sure," said Sakura handing her the flowers without query.  
>"What pretty flowers," said the girl sniffing them. "To bad they're to pretty for you," She said as she began tearing the flowers to shreds and throwing them to the ground.<br>"Why?..." Was all Sakura manged to say.  
>"What are you a dog? What are you trying to do with that hair across your forehead?" said the girl, with a snobby look on her face, but before Sakura could even open her mouth to answer the girl continued. "Wait, don't tell me, I know what you're trying to do, you're trying to hide the fact that your forehead is so ginormous behind those things you call bangs," she laughed then said "Pathetic."<br>"Why are you doing this to me?" Sakura said as her eyes began to water and a bulge in her throat beginning to form. "What did I ever do to you?" tears began running down her pink cheeks.  
>"Oh, nothing I just can't stop myself from saying somethings ugly when I see it." said the redhead holding her head up high.<br>Sakura was now curled up with her face in her knees crying, her arms were tightly wrapped around her her calves.  
>"Aw, look at the little baby," said the blonde girl.<br>"_Waah! Waah!_ I want my mommy," mocked the brunette, pretending to cry by rubbing her eyes.  
>"What a crybaby," said the redhead, then all the girls began to laugh together<br>Then form behind the girls came a voice that said load and angry. "Stop! Leave her alone!"  
>The girls turned around and saw a young girl with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a cream colored spaghetti strapped top and purple pants. Parts of her bangs were held to one side with a little red clip. Her hands were at her sides and she had an angry look on her face.<br>"What?" said all three girls.  
>"You heard me. Leave her alone!" the girl said taking a step forward and leaning her head towards their faces and giving them a stern look.<br>"Why, should we?" said the redhead turning her back on the girl, the others followed.  
>The girl walked around to the other side and stood next to the still sobbing Sakura. The girl chuckled and then said "I know why your doing this."<br>"No, you don't," said the redhead.  
>"Yes, I do, you're doing this because you're jealous," said the girl. The redhead's jaw dropped and so did those of her friends. "Yeah, you're jealous of how much prettier she is than you, so to make yourselves feel better you're bullying her."<br>"Humph, you don't know anything," returned the redhead, while crossing her arms, lifting her head up high, and stomping her toe.  
>After a brief moment of silence she turned around and left, her friends not far behind her.<br>"Just as I thought! It's a good thing that they left on their own because I was about to make them leave." _  
>"Thank you," said Sakura's small voice.<br>"Huh?" said the girl turning around. "Oh, you're welcome. Sorry that I didn't stop them sooner though."  
>"W-who are you?" asked Sakura with a sniff.<br>"I'm Ino Yamanaka," she said with an inviting smile. "And you?"  
>"Sakura Haruno," she replied.<br>"Why did you let those girls bully you like that?" asked Ino.  
>"To tell you the truth I didn't know what to do," responded Sakura shamefully.<br>"Oh," Ino said as she knelt herself in front of Sakura. "Here let me wipe those tears," she said while rubbing her thumbs underneath Sakura's eyes. "You have such pretty eyes you know..." Ino thought for a second, "...But they're kinda hard to see behind those bangs. I don't wanna seem mean," she continued. "But those girls were right about your bangs they do make your forehead look bigger then it is." Sakura's face started to get disappointed. "But don't worry I'll fix that," Ino said grinning. She put one hand on Sakura's forehead lifting up the bangs, while her other hand released a red ribbon which was in her hair.  
>"Why are you doing this? Why are you being so nice to me?" asked Sakura while Ino was parting her bangs.<br>"I don't know, you seem like a nice girl and I want to help you as much as I can..." Ino said. "You know when I saw those girls were bullying you I couldn't stop but think if it were me instead of you that they were bullying, I too would want someone to come and save me."  
>"I can't thank you enough for what you did. What you did was very brave." Sakura said.<br>"Brave?" Ino laughed, "I wasn't brave, anybody could have done what I did all they need is a little confidence."  
>"Really?" said Sakura.<br>"Yeah, even you could have done it." Ino said. Sakura smiled and there was a moment of silence.

As Ino was tightening the ribbon on Sakura's head she said, "Done," she then lifted Sakura's drooping head by her chin and turned it from one side to the other "Perfect. Just I thought, removing the bangs from your forehead would make it seem less big."  
>"It does!" said Sakura excited.<br>"Would I lie to you?" asked Ino  
>"I guess not... but are you sure I can wear your ribbon?" responded Sakura.<br>"Wear it? You can keep. It looks a lot better on you then it does on me anyway."  
>Sakura jumped off her knees and gave Ino a big hug. "Thank you." Sakura said again.<br>"It was nothing, and could you please stop thanking me." Ino replied as she returned Sakura's hug.

The two girls had quickly been converted into friends. They sat there in the meadow talking and laughing. They were having so much fun that they did not notice when everyone else began to leave. The girls eventually looked around and saw that everybody else had vanished, Ino and Sakura both stood up and said "Where did everybody go?"  
>"Oh, well this only means more flowers for us."said Ino with a shrug and closing one eye. Ino then saw Sakura's torn flowers on the ground. "Hey, Sakura how about we pick you some new flowers and make a prettier bouquet than the one that the girls tore? "<br>"Sure, that sounds lovely! Let's start right now!" said Sakura with much enthusiasm.  
>"Okay, let's go." said Ino. "You know meeting you is going to good practice for me,to reach my dream of becoming the owner of my parents flowers shop and a world famous fashion designer."<br>"He-he,So Miss future shopkeeper-fashion-designer, where should we start picking?" asked Sakura with a smile.  
>"How about I get some pretty flowers from the lower part of the meadow while you get some from the upper part near the trees?" suggested Ino.<br>"Okay,"agreed Sakura, then both the girls skipped merrily to there designated area.

As Sakura was picking her flowers she noticed something scurry behind one of the trees. Sakura left her picked flowers on the ground and went to check it out. Sakura was surprised, when what she found was another girl. The girl was holding on to one of the trunks of trees, she had half of her face hidden by the trunk and the other half was peeking at Sakura. The girl had short dark hair,pale skin, pink cheeks and big eyes that were almost the color of the light purple dress she was wearing. Sakura moved closer to the girl and began talking to her.  
>"What are you doing behind that tree? Are you hiding there because you are afraid of me?" asked Sakura.<br>"O-oh nothing. I'm not afraid of you," said the girl in a little voice.  
>"Then come out from behind there, I won't bite, promise," said Sakura with a welcoming smile.<br>"O-okay," said the girl trying to smiling back as she stepped on to the flower field.  
>"See, I'm not that scary, by the way my name is Sakura Haruno and yours?" said Sakura.<br>"Hi-hinata Hyuuga." she replied.  
>"What a lovely name. Well, it's a pleasure meet you Hinata," said Sakura.<br>"The same to you Sakura," returned Hinata.

_  
>Sakura then went to pick up her flowers. As she was bent over picking up her flowers she heard Ino's voice shouting, "Sakura! Sakura!" Sakura looked up and she saw Ino running towards her. When Ino finally reached her she was out of breath. Ino bent over leaning on her knees trying to catch breath.<br>"What's taking...you... so long," Ino said staggering her breath.  
>"Well, when I was picking flowers I found something interesting," Sakura said pointing to Hinata. Hinata stood behind Sakura and glimpsed over Sakura's right shoulder.<br>"Oh," said Ino standing up tall to look at Hinata.  
>"This is Hinata," introduced Sakura as she moved aside and gently pushed Hinata forward.<br>"Hi, Hinata. I'm Ino Yamanaka," said Ino waving at her.  
>"Hello, Ino," said Hinata bowing her head.<br>"Hey, why don't you help us pick flowers?" said Ino kindly.  
>"Yes, please do," said Sakura as she grabbed Hinata by her shoulders and looked at her with a big grin.<br>"Okay," said Hinata grinning back.  
>"Great!" said both Ino and Sakura cheerfully as they both grabbed a hold of one of Hinata's arms and held their flowers in the other.<p>

"Now that we're done picking flowers why don't we go to park? It's not far from here, it's just at the end of this meadow," suggested Sakura as the girls finished making the bouquets.  
>"Sound like fun!" said Ino.<br>"Sure," said Hinata.  
>"Okay, then let's go," said Sakura leading the way.<br>On there way to the park Sakura got curious and asked "Hinata can I ask you a question?"  
>"Go ahead Sakura-Chan," said Hinata.<br>"Why did you come here? I'm pretty sure you it wasn't to hide behind a tree," said Sakura.  
>Hinata giggled, she had already lost her timidness around the girls. "Well, that's true... I only came here because my father wants me to be less shy around people. It is hard for me because I'm afraid of talking with new people. That's why I don't have any friends and why my father wants me to get out more."<br>"Oh, I understand," said Sakura.  
>"Yeah, but you lost your shyness with us very quickly and all we did was be nice at this rate you'll lose your shyness in no time," said Ino with optimism.<br>"Ino has a point and Hinata you do have friends,us!" said Sakura. Hinata's face grew a smile and that smile was accompanied two others. And they remained for a while the only sound being the cheerful chirps of the birds and there footsteps.  
>Little did the girls know that there acts of kindness on that spring day would lead them to a life lasting friendship.<br>**End of part 1.1 **


	3. Remember1:2

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH1.2:Remember<strong>

**Also nine and a half years earlier:**  
>In a playground that was once full of children was now almost completely abandoned. Earlier that day there were many kids there all playing tag, hide-and-go-seek, or simply running around until their legs could no longer move. All those kids were long gone and all that remained were three lonely boys. The boys were all isolated. One of the boys stood leaning by a big blooming cherry tree, another sat by the ladder of the slide painting, and last one sat on a swing slowing pushing himself back and forth. All three of the boys were off in their own little world.<p>

_  
>The boy leaning by the tree was complaining to himself. His face carried a frown and his deep dark eyes anger and sorrow. The boy's eyes fit perfectly against his light skin. His hair was quite unique, it was spiked up in the back but only on one side and semi-parted bangs to accompany it. He was dressed in a fairly long sleeve black shirt with white shorts. The boy began talking to himself :"Stupid Itachi and his stupid friends," he whispered with his arms crossed in front of him and his shoulder blades pressing against the tree trunk.<br>"Tsk, He thinks he can just ditch me when ever he feels like it to hang out with his new friends...I hate his friends and I hate him for going with them. What makes me most angry is how he said was 'Sorry, Sasuke, but you can't come with us, it's strictly big kids besides you know what the guys will do if I bring you.' Then he just smiles like it's no big deal. Just as he's about to leave he stops and say's 'Wait, I forgot I promised to train with you didn't I Sasuke?' He then signaled me to come and as I stupidly run towards him he sticks out his fingers and strikes me on the forehead saying 'maybe next time' and he leaves," Sasuke said while touching where his brother had tapped his forehead and left a red mark. Sasuke continued talking to himself saying "And when I ask mom what to do, she tells me 'Itachi's a big boy now Sasuke and you know that. You also know that your brother wants to spend as much time with his friend as he does with you. Don't be sad Honey. Why don't you do the same by going to the park and making new friends,' and without even thinking about it I do what she says again..." He kept muttering to himself.  
>The boy on the swing set was full of energy, but was keeping it bottled up inside him. This boy had wild, spiky, blond hair. He had deep blue eye and his skin was a bit dark. On his both his cheeks ran lines which resembled whiskers. He wore a T-shirt with the red Uzumaki symbol in the center and beige colored pants. As he pushed himself he thought of the future, but mostly about his dream of becoming the great leader of the village just like his father or maybe even greater. 'I will become Hokage someday or my name isn't Naruto Uzumaki,' He thought in his head. One thing this boy seemed to have a lot of was hope both for himself and for humanity.<br>The boy sitting by the slide was a simple guy. He had extremely pale skin with dark eyes and hair. Their was nothing special about his hair, it just laid flat. His clothing was completely black. He sat there by the slide thinking of nothing yet everything. All of his thoughts were pouring out of his brain and with his hand he placed them on the paper in ink.

_  
>Naruto finally got bored of doing nothing, so he planned on getting the other boys' attention, but he knew it wasn't going to be easy since they were sheer strangers. Naruto looked around to see if he could find something that could catch their attention, he then spotted two stones right next to his feet. He picked up the stones from the sand and threw them at the boys. The stones ended up hitting both of them on the head.<br>"Ow! Why did you do that you dobe?" yelled Sasuke.  
>"Hey!" shouted the other boy.<br>Naruto smiled a dorky grin then said "I was only trying to get your attention. I guess it worked," he said chuckling while rubbing the the back of his head.  
>"What do you want?" Sasuke asked irritated as he touched the spot were the stone had hit which happened to be the same spot his brother Itachi had hit earlier.<br>"Oh,Um...Well I was just wondering if you guys...well wanted to do something fun like play a game with me or just talk or something," he said will he looked down and kicked the ground with his right foot.  
>"Okay,"said the by the slide as he walked towards Naruto, the boy smiled yet it didn't look natural. Naruto then turned and looked towards Sasuke, who remained silent. Then after a brief pause he looked at Naruto and said "Tsk! After hitting me on the head with a rock, you want me to play with you?" he chuckled, "I don't even know why I bothered to come here in the first place. I'm leaving." He said as he started walking past the two boys. Naruto then spotted and immediately recognized the small emblem on the back of Sasuke's shirt. He thought for a second then said "Hey, Uchiha! I bet you can't beat me in a race."<br>Sasuke stopped in his footsteps. 'How does he know...' he thought. All Sasuke said was "What?"  
>"You heard me! I said I bet you can't bet me in a race," Naruto replied.<br>Sasuke chuckled "We'll see who beats who." he muttered under his breath as he walked back towards Naruto.  
>'I knew it would work,' thought Naruto and to celebrate his victory he smiled.<br>"Just tell me from where to where and I'll beat you. This will be a piece of cake." Sasuke said when he reached the boys.  
>"Wrong, it won't be easy because we won't be running in a straight line, but through an obstacle course," said Naruto "I had to make it difficult you know, to give you a chance."<br>"It won't be challenging and even if it is I'll still beat you." Sasuke said in a snobby tone.  
>"Okay, here is the plan then, you can join too if you want,"Naruto said to the other boy who began to feel left out. "The race will start at the edge of the swings, you will zig-zag through them then you will get across the monkey bars, after that you have to balance across the see-saw, then jump the sandbox, climb the jungle gym, run up the sliding part of the slide and finally run around the merry-go-round three times and who ever touches the cherry tree first wins," he said almost out of breath. "Any questions?"<br>"No,"said Sasuke.  
>"I think I got it, is it: swings, monkey bars, see-saw, sandbox, jungle gym, slide, merry-go-round, and tree. Right?" said the other boy.<br>"Yup," said nodding his head, surprised that he had remembered it all.  
>"Can we get on with it already?" said Sasuke.<br>"Okay, just get into place and we'll start," said Naruto as he drew a line in the sand with his foot. The boys stood with their toes on the line. Naruto gulped then said "On your marks..." the boys leaned forward. "Ready?" they nodded. "Set..." the sights were set straight ahead. He finally said "GO!" and they were off. To the surprise of Naruto and Sasuke the other boy had zoomed and taken the lead. They ran as fast as they could they would occasionally change position as the leader. On the last obstacle they all ran at full speed as they reached the tree.  
>"I won!" they all announced. The boy who stood in between Naruto and Sasuke collapsed of exhaustion and fell back on his butt, while Sasuke and Naruto still argued about who won even though they were out of breath. They both glared at each other and said "No, I won!"<br>"I clearly saw my hand was on the trunk first!" exclaimed Naruto.  
>"No way, my hand was there way before yours!" replied Sasuke.<br>After catching his breath the boy who was sitting down said "Guys, guys, stop arguing. I know who won!"  
>They both looked at him and said "Who!"<br>"Well, I hate to break it to you fellows, but it was a three way tie. Which means we all won," the boy said shrugging his shoulders.  
>"What! Really?"They both said as they both fell back.<p>

All three boys laid on their backs with their feet on the tree trunk. They were breathing heavily as they were trying to regain there strength and their breath.  
>Sasuke spoke first "Well, you guys were a bit more challenging then I expected."<br>"So, we weren't the piece of cake you that you were expecting, huh?" said Naruto.  
>"I guess not," said Sasuke.<br>"I'll admit it was fun. I like the rush of competition," said the pale boy.  
>Naruto chuckled as he sat up and then said "Yeah," he looked at the two boys and said "We haven't introduced ourselves yet, or have we?" The other boys sat up and shook their heads."Well, then I'll go first. I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"<br>"I'll go next, I guess," said Sasuke. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha."  
>"Um...I'm Sai," said the other boy.<br>"What's your last name?" asked Sasuke.  
>"Yeah, we told you our last names now tell us yours," said Naruto butting in.<br>"Well, I would if I could but the thing is...I don't have one,"said Sai.  
>"What do you mean you don't have one?" asked Naruto.<br>"I have no parents..." he looked down. "And my _uncle_ Danzo never told me it, to tell you the truth I don't even know if my name is really Sai,"  
>"Oh," said the other to boys growing silent.<p>

They were all quiet until Naruto said "Hey, Sasuke can I ask you a question?"  
>"Sure," said Sasuke.<br>"Do you have natural duck butt hair or do you make it look that?" asked Naruto.  
>"It's natural. Huh?...What?...Wait...I...My...Duck butt!" was all that came out of Sasuke's mouth as he examined his hair with his hand. "I don't have duck butt hair! And well yours is worse, at least it doesn't look like I have a hedgehog on my head." Naruto's jaw dropped and he too started to examine his hair. Sai who was sitting between them just laughed to himself as they argued.<br>Sasuke and Naruto were to focused on fighting each other that they didn't notice that Sai had left and come back with his sketchbook. When he returned he had started drawing a picture of Naruto and Sasuke. His drawing was of Sasuke with a duck on his head instead of hair and a hedgehog on Naruto's head. When he finished he couldn't contain his laughter, he laughed so hard it startled the fighting boys.  
>Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at him and said "What are you laughing at?"<br>Sai didn't say a word he only turned the drawing over so they could see it. They only glanced at it for a moment and they too started laughing.  
>"Sorry, but I couldn't help myself," said Sai with a real smile on his face.<br>"Well, I guess I do have duck butt hair," admitted Sasuke still laughing.  
>"And mine does kinda look like a hedgehog,"said Naruto.<br>The boys continued laughing like friends. It may have been a little rough at first, but just then and there was the formation of a strong bond.

**End of part 1.2 **


	4. Remember1:3p:1

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH1.3:Remember I<strong>

The girls walked to the playground hand in hand. Even though they had just met, they acted as if the had know each other for eternity. The girls soon gained sight of the park. It was a bit a ways but it could still be seen. Sakura squinted a bit and noticed that the playground wasn't full as it usually was. The park was normally overflowing with screaming, crying, laughing children at this point of the day, but for some reason all those children weren't there.  
>"There aren't as many people in the park today," stated Sakura.<br>"Well, it's not all bad at least we'll have more park to play in," said Ino.  
>"I guess your right," Sakura said with a smile. The girls kept walking towards the park.<p>

_  
>The boys were now engaged in a game of tag, after they had finally stopped laughing. If anyone would have seen them laughing, they would have never suspected that they had just met moments ago;They wouldn't have suspected it because their laughter was not of strangers, but of true friends.<br>When the girls were only a few feet away they suddenly halted. They stood looking at the three figures who were joyfully playing tag.  
>"Boys," said Ino as she stood petrified yet she showed no fear on the exterior even though she was full of it. Hinata quickly scurried behind Sakura with much fear for she had never really been around boys her age other than her cousin Neji. She tightly gripped Sakura's arm shaking. Sakura felt the shaking as she turned her head to give her a warm smile and patted her head the other girls head to comfort her. Sakura like Ino showed no fear even though she was more afraid of the boys than Hinata. Ino shook her head getting rid of the fear and took a step forward, the other girls slowly followed.<br>"They're nothing to be scared of they're just a couple of boys. They don't bite," said Ino with an encouraging smile. "At least I think they don't," she quietly murmured.  
>"You're right," said Sakura.<br>"Yeah, there's nothing to worry about," said Hinata, her voice was very shaky.  
>"Come on, let's just go have fun," said Ino.<br>"Okay," said Sakura as she lost her fear. "But the last one to the swings is a rotten egg!" She began to run and so did the others.

They all reached the swing set out of breath.  
>"Aw, I didn't get to see who the rotten egg was," said Sakura.<br>"Oh, well maybe next time," said Ino. Hinata only giggled.  
>"Well, now that we're here why don't we swing? I bet you can't swing higher than me," bragged Sakura as she placed her flowers on the ground and hopped on a swing.<br>"You're on!" said Ino, doing the same.  
>"Bet we can," said Hinata following them and there began their little competition.<p>

_  
>The boys were by the merry-go-round. Sasuke and Naruto were trying to avoid Sai who was currently it;when the girls arrived to the park.<br>"Girls," Sasuke said pointing towards them when he spotted them on the swings.  
>"I'm not falling for that one," said Sai who had his back to them.<br>"And not just any girls, pretty girls," said Naruto.  
>"Huh?" said Sai as he turned around to look at them. The other two boys walked towards Sai to get a better look. They just stood there with their mouths slightly open as they stared at them.<br>When the girls glanced over at them, the boys quickly looked away with slight redness to there cheeks.  
>"We should go talk to them," suggested Naruto.<br>"Why?" asked Sasuke.  
>"I don't know? To be nice," was Naruto's reply.<br>"Naruto has a point," said Sai.  
>"What Sasuke don't tell me you're afraid of girls having cooties?" teased Naruto.<br>"I'm not!" yelled Sasuke red-faced.  
>"Okay, let's go and talk to them then," said Naruto.<br>"Fine," said Sasuke "But you go first."  
>"No problem buddy I'll go first," said Naruto wrapping one arm around Sasuke's neck.<br>They all walked towards the swings and stopped right in front of them. Naruto gulped and after a moment of trying to part his lips he finally managed to say "Hi!" as he wove his hand and smiled.  
>"Hello," returned the girls with a warm smile. Sakura and Ino both jumped off the swings and landed on their feet, even though Sakura almost lost balance fell on her face. Hinata on the other hand put out her foot down and dragged it across the sand to stop herself, then she stood next to the other girls. The boys all gulped and took a step back. They stood in silence for a while, only examining each other. They all didn't know how to act in front of the opposite gender.<br>It took all of Naruto's courage, but he finally said " So what are your names?" he did not look at the girls when he asked the question.  
>"Well, I'm Ino," she said. She was standing in between Sakura who was to her right and Hinata who was on the left. They moved towards Ino and slightly hid themselves. "Please excuse my friends they're a bit shy." Ino said as she gently tapped Sakura to make her speak.<br>"My name is Sa-Sakura," she said her face turning a bit pink.  
>Hinata followed her face already bright red. "Um...I-Im Hinata," she said in a soft voice.<br>"It's very nice to meet you all. I'm Naruto," he said no longer in fear.  
>"I am Sai," he said smiling of at least trying to.<br>"And I'm Sasuke," he said looking away over his shoulder.  
>"I like you flowers," complemented Naruto trying to keep the conversation going. The girls thanked him and after the ice broke it wasn't hard for any of them to speak to each other.<p>

**Minutes Later...**  
>Naruto and Hinata sat on the grass behind the swing set looking at the clouds overhead.<br>"Hey, that one looks like a bunny!" Naruto said as he pointed to one of them.  
>"Yeah, and that one looks like a hedgehog," Hinata said giggling. Naruto growled remembering what Sasuke had said earlier.<br>"That one looks like a heart," they both said at the same time. They both looked at each other and quickly looked away their faces slightly blushing. They sat there not saying a word, then Naruto pulled something out of his pocket.  
>"Um...When I was at the river earlier today I found this rock..." he showed her a light purple stone in the form of a pentagon. "...and well I want you to have it... um because it matches your dress and...your eyes. Here have it," he handed it to her. She took it from his hand and examined it with her fingers it was smooth and soft.<br>"Thank you," she said smiling.  
>"You're welcome," he said scratching his head.<br>"I want to give you something too," Hinata said.  
>"Oh," Naruto said surprised. "There is really no need to."<br>"I know," Hinata said with a smile. She took out something she had tucked in belt. It was what use to be multicolored butterfly hair pin, but now it was just a simple butterfly without a pin.  
>"It isn't much, but I want you to have it," said Hinata.<br>"Cool, a butterfly!" he said truthfully. He had never had anyone give him a gift like that before, he would have excepted it no matted what it was. "I'll add it to my bug collection."  
>"You have a collection?" asked Hinata.<br>"Yeah..." he continued.  
><strong>At that same time:<strong>

Ino and Sakura were looking over Sai's shoulder at his drawing. Occasionally Sakura would lift her head to glance over at Naruto and Hinata or turned her neck to see Sasuke who went back to lean against the cherry tree. She would smile when she looked at them.  
>"Nice beast you drew," Ino said when Sai finished drawing.<br>"Thank you," Sai replied.  
>"Whoa, it almost looks real," said Sakura.<br>"I guess it does," said Sai.  
>Sakura looked at the lonely Sasuke once more then went to Ino and whispered in her ear "I'll be back, okay?" Ino nodded and Sakura walked to Sasuke.<br>"Um...Ino," said Sai looking at her and scratching his cheek. "Would you mind if a drew a portrait of you?"  
>Ino smiled as she said "Not at all, Sai. Where do you want me to stand?"<br>"You can seat yourself in front of me." he said.  
>"Okay," Ino said as walked and sat herself in front of Sai. "Is this okay?"<br>"Perfect. Now just relax while I draw you, okay," said Sai.  
>Ino nodded and tried to be as relaxed as possible. Sai let his eyes connect to his hand, he glanced at Ino only a few times while drawing her. Sai drew carefully trying not to have any imperfections. Ino sat patiently as he drew. She did not take her eyes off him for a single moment while he drew. After a few minutes, the waiting paid off.<br>"Done," announced Sai.  
>Ino let a long breath slip out as she stood up to go see the portrait. She was nervous to see the results, not because of Sai's drawing ability, but of how Sai had perceived her. Once Ino saw the drawing her jaw fell wide open. "It's beautiful, thank you Sai," Ino said with much emotion in her voice.<br>"I didn't make it beautiful I only drew what I saw," he said as both his and Ino's face began to get warm. Ino turned to look at Sakura. When she saw her she smiled.  
>"Hey, Sai do you mine doing me a favor?" asked Ino.<br>"No, not at all. What is it?" said Sai.  
>"Would you please draw a portrait of them?" she said pointing at Sasuke and Sakura. Sai looked at them with a smile and said "I'll be glad to."<p>

**to be continued...**


	5. Remember1:3p:2

**Broken Youth  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
><strong>**CH1.3:Remember II**

While Sai was drawing Ino, Sakura had gone to talk to Sasuke.

'I wonder why she's coming?' Thought Sasuke as Sakura walked towards him, with her flowers in her hand.  
>"Hey, Sasuke-kun what are you doing over here all alone?" asked Sakura politely.<br>"I don't know," he lied for he did know he was there because he was afraid of making a fool of him self in front of them.  
>"Oh," said Sakura. "So why did you come to the park in the first place?" she said trying to keep the conversation going.<br>"My brother Itachi ditched for his friends," said Sasuke with his arms crossed.  
>"My cousin Konan does that to me all the time and I hate it. Especially when she comes home and acts like it was no big deal," said Sakura.<br>"I know! And then they expect you to forgive them just like that," Sasuke said as he snapped his fingers.  
>"How old is you brother any way?" asked Sakura.<br>"He's nine almost ten," answered Sasuke.  
>"My cousin is nine also," said Sakura. "How old are you?"<br>"I'm six almost seven," said Sasuke.  
>"No fair! You're older than me I just turn six," said Sakura.<p>

They grew quiet for some time. Sakura looked at the flowers which she held in her hand then asked, "Can I ask you a weird question Sasuke-kun?"  
>"Okay," said Sasuke.<br>"Out of all these flowers which one do you think suits me best?" said Sakura.  
>"None, there all ugly," said Sasuke with out thinking. 'Why is she asking something like that? She should know that she's a whole lot prettier then any of those flowers.' He told him self.<br>Sakura tilted her head down to hide her sadness.  
>When Sasuke realized what he had done he quickly said " I mean the flowers are okay, but none of them are good enough to to represent you," Sasuke said. Sakura lifted up her gaze. "Do you really want to know what flower I would choose?" he said looking up.<br>"Yes," said Sakura.  
>"Well, the prettiest flower that fits you would be the one that you are named after," Sasuke said his face starting to flush.<br>Sakura looked at the flowers over head and with a blush said " You really think so Sasuke-kun?"  
>"Why would I lie," was his reply.<br>Sakura smiled "I only wish I could get some, but they're to high for me to reach," Sakura sighed as she raised her hand high.  
>"I'll climb up and get you some," offered Sasuke.<br>"You really don't need to go thru all that trouble," said Sakura.  
>"Getting them won't be a problem!" said Sasuke.<br>"Okay, but please be careful," said Sakura.  
>"I'll be fine I climb trees all the time and I've never fell once," he bragged as he began to climb up the trunk. Sakura watched him as she placed down her flowers. When Sasuke got to the first thick branch he slid across it on his stomach to get a smaller branch that was full of flowers. He snapped it off and handed it to Sakura. Sakura had to tip-toe just to reach it. Sakura still had a worried look on her face. She went and set the cherry blossoms on top of her other flowers.<br>"Please be careful coming down," Sakura told Sasuke.

As Sasuke was backing up, the thing that Sakura feared occurred, Sasuke lost his balance and fell out of the tree. He knocked over Sakura who was standing just underneath him.

"Are you alright?" they both said in simultaneously after they hit the ground.

"Yeah," they both replied.

Sakura was laying flat on her back while Sasuke held himself up with his arms.

Sasuke and Sakura's faces were inches away from each other in the opposite direction. Sasuke's hands were by Sakura's shoulders.

Both Sakura and Sasuke stayed there looking at each other for a long time.

Sakura began to giggle."What are you laughing at?" asked Sasuke.

"Oh nothing really I just think you face looks funny upside down especially since it's red," Sakura told him making his face grow warmer.

After a moment Sasuke chuckled saying "You know I'm not the only one with a funny red face."

"Huh?" Sakura said as she touched her cheek with her hand. Her face then started blazing and turning a even darker red the ever before.

Sasuke kept chuckling as he lifted himself up off the ground. He clapped off the dirt off his hands then stood besides Sakura extending his arm to her. She took a hold of his hand and he gently lifted her up. Even after Sasuke had picked her up, their hands were still connected. They stood gazing in each others eyes for a while. When Sasuke finally realized what he was doing he quickly released her hand and turned away, his face starting to blush again.

Sakura smiled and said "Thank you!"

Sasuke looked at her and chuckled, then with a smirk on his face he said "You're annoying." yet he thought: 'I fall on you and instead of yelling at me you laugh. Sakura you truly are a strange girl and somehow I'm starting to like you.'

Sakura felt a bit bad about Sasuke's comment but deep down she knew he didn't really mean it.

Sasuke started to move away from the shadow of the trees into the sunlight. He sat down and let the breeze clash on his face. He looked at Sakura who was still standing and signaled her to sit by him. Sakura sat behind Sasuke their backs pressing against each other. Sasuke leaned his head against Sakura's. Both of them stared up at the lovely baby blue sky that was full of big puffy clouds.

"Um...Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said after a while.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"I want to give you something, to repay you the nice things you have done for me today," said Sakura.

"You know you don't have to repay me, I did what I did cause I wanted to not because I had to," responded Sasuke.

"I know, but I still want you to have this." Sakura said as she bent her hand backward and handed him something.

He took it from her held it in between his fingers. "A marble?" In Sasuke's hand there was a big red with black blotches on it (it looked a little like the sharingan). He smiled as he looked at it.

"It's nothing special I know but I thought it would be more use to you than it is to me."

"It's awesome, I really like it! Especially since it almost looks like an eye," said Sasuke.

"You like it?" Sakura asked a bit surprised.

"Of course I do, it's really cool, and besides you gave it to me," said Sasuke as he put it in his pocket. "I'm tired of just sitting around, why don't we play...tag, you're it," he said as he tagged her on the shoulder and stood up and began to run away.

"Hey, no fair," said Sakura as she got up and chased after him. He ran past Sai and Ino, Sai had just finished another drawing.

"Tag," Sakura told Ino.

"No, Sai's it!" she said as she tagged him.

He chased after them, but then decided to go after an easier pray.

''You're it," he told Naruto.

"Wait, Hinata's it," Naruto said tagging her.

The six children were soon running all over the park. They were having more fun than they ever had; They didn't never wanted to stop, but had to when their parents came to take them home.

The adults stood at the edge of the park all calling their child's name. Naruto was the first to leave, he said his farewells to everyone, and with a wink as he passed Hinata he ran to his mother's open arms. Hinata followed, she said goodbye and gave them all an innocent smile as she skipped to her father's side. Sakura was next to leave, as she was leaving Sai stopped her saying "Wait, have this," he said as he tore a page from his sketchbook and handed it to her. Sakura looked at it and smiled, it was a picture of Sasuke and her sitting back-to-back. That was only one of the two of the pictures he had drawn of them, the other one, was drawing of them after Sasuke fell from the tree and the one Ino asked him to draw. He was going to keep the other one for himself at least for the time being.

Sakura not only thanked him but also Sasuke and Ino by saying "I'm grateful for having friends like you, Thank you!" They all wove goodbye to her as she left.

Sasuke left without saying a word he only gave a simple wave then he dashed off to his mother who greeted him with a smile.

Ino and Sai looked at each other for a moment. "Here I want you to have this," he said handing her the portrait of herself.

"If you give me this then how will you remember me?" asked Ino.

"A face like yours isn't something that is easily forgotten," he said with a smile. Ino blushed then took out a small pack of crayons from her back pocket and gave it to him.

"Here, so you can add some color to your black and white world," Ino told him with one last smile before sprinting off to her father.

"Thank you, Ino, you don't know how much this means to me," he said to himself as he slowly walked to his uncle Danzo.

All of the children wished to see each other again soon.

They all kept their precious gifts from that day. Those items that would seem worthless to others and were priceless to them. They kept their cherished gifts somewhere close to them so that they would never forget their significance of friendship and love.

Naruto's butterfly, Sasuke's marble, Sai's crayons, Hinata's pebble, Ino's portrait, and Sakura's cherry blossoms were all kept to remember that everlasting friendship.

**End of part 1.3**


	6. Remember1:4

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH1.4:Remember<strong>

The children did meet again in that very park. They also made some new friends, but that didn't weaken their friendship it only made it stronger. The days seemed to fly by when they were together. All of them stuck together until the late summer, when there was a sudden turning point. The boys and the girls started to realize that they were completely different creatures. Their bonds were still intact yet they were slowly drifting away from each other because of their differences.  
>The time came when they didn't want to play with each other anymore, instead the boys wanted to play with action figures while the girls wanted dolls. The change didn't stop there, as they got older they grew even further apart, the girls were more interested in fashion and makeup and the boys in video games and comic books; now added to that is what they seem to be stuck on now, which is adrenaline and sports for the guys and gossip and love for the girls. Even if it did not seem like it the two genders were slowly starting to regain that connection which they had lost with the passage of time.<p>

'Sometimes I wish I could go back to that simpler time called childhood. When we thought of each other as equals, had a strong connection and almost everybody got along. Friends were made as easy as saying hello. Yet at the same time I don't want to go back, because living in past paradise would be pointless. I know that in life you have to overcome obstacles in order for it to have a real purpose. Life is not meant to go back or stay constant. Change is an inevitable part of life, even if you don't like the way things turnout because of it, it's just the way things are meant to be. No matter how hard you try you can't alter your past, you have to stay with your present and make a better future. One thing I know is that you can't necessarily control your life but you can choose how to live it.' Sakura thought.  
>Her breath growing fainter and her eyelids becoming heavier. She had almost fallen asleep when all of a sudden <em><strong>*Tonk*<strong>_ some one flicked her forehead saying: "Wake up, forehead girl!"  
>Sakura immediately sat up and said "You didn't have to flick me Ino pig! A simple shake would have sufficed, and besides I wasn't sleeping." Sakura thought 'But I was about to be.'<br>"Yeah, yeah whatever forehead, I still think you were out like a log." Ino said as Sakura glared at her.  
>"I can truthful say I wasn't sleeping, I was thinking," Sakura said.<br>"About what? Sleeping beauty," teased Ino.  
>"I was thinking about how the three of us met in this very meadow, all those years ago." replied Sakura.<br>"Don't say it like that you make it sound as if we're really old," said Ino.  
>"Well, Sakura-Chan's right, it was a long time ago, almost ten years to be precise," said Hinata who was standing next to Ino.<br>"Yes, ten years this spring, doesn't time seem to fly?" said Sakura as she stood up. Cherry blossom petals fell out of her hair.  
>"Ten years," repeat Ino. There was a brief silence.<br>"So why did you interrupt my meditation?" asked Sakura.  
>Ino shook her head. "Oh, well I been trying to contact you forever! Why haven't you picked up or replied?" asked Ino.<br>"I guess I forgot my phone at home," said Sakura.  
>"Well, you had me worried. So, I went over to Hinata's to see if she could help me find you. We've been all over town looking for you. Right Hinata?" said Ino.<br>"Right," said Hinata nodding her head.  
>"That still doesn't tell me why you came," said Sakura.<br>"Well, to go shopping, duh!" replied Ino.  
>"That's all? Shopping?" said Sakura.<br>"Yeah, it's a whole lot better than staying here doing nothing. Beside you need a new wardrobe," said Ino.  
>"What's wrong with my old clothes?" asked Sakura as she looked at what she was wearing.<br>"Nothing, I just think you need something new. You know to catch a certain someone's attention," said Ino.  
>"Ino!" said Sakura.<br>"Sorry, it was only a suggestion, don't get mad," replied Ino.  
>Sakura sighed "I guess I do need some new clothes. I also need to get my dress for the upcoming dance," said Sakura.<br>"Dress? The dance isn't 'til well over a month," said Ino.  
>"Yeah, I know, but I don't want a repeat of last year. When we decided to get our dresses a week before and we literally had to fight to get one," said Sakura.<br>"Ha! I forgot about that. Well, at least your finally taking an interest in shopping," said Ino.  
>"Come on, let's go already," said Sakura walking away.<br>"Isn't your house the other way?"point Ino.  
>"Yes, and why do you ask?" said Sakura.<br>"Don't you need to go home and get money first?" asked Ino.  
>"No, I have my money right here,"said Sakura as she patted her pocket, and kept on walking.<br>"Wait, so you're telling me you're carrying money but not your phone!" said Ino.  
>"Ino, money is essential my phone isn't," said Sakura.<br>"How can you say something like that? Of course a phone is essential. I couldn't live without mine," stated Ino.  
>"I can believe that," said Sakura.<br>"What did you just say billboard brow? Hey don't you ignore me!" said Ino. Hinata only giggled. And with that the three girls left the meadow.

b**Meanwhile by the cherry trees in the park./b**  
>"That was a nice little nap, if you can call it that," said Sasuke with one eye opened. "I finally managed remembered how I became acquainted with the two morons I call my best friends."<br>Sasuke closed his eye again. "I finally got some peace and quiet. With no annoying Naruto, no nagging brother, and thankfully no stupid screaming fan girls. Let's see how long this break lasts. I really wish that Dobe doesn't come looking for me anytime soon." said Sasuke to himself.  
>He sat leaning his head against his favorite cherry tree with his eyes tightly closed. His favorite tree had bloomed late that year. The petals from it's remaining flowers were being carried by the wind and blown towards the meadow. Sasuke just sat there resting his eyes and breathing softly. He felt something fall in his opened hand, he opened his eyes and looked at it. It was a still intact fully bloomed cherry blossom. He smiled and said "Oh, cherry blossom, oh my little cherry blossom," he took a deep breath. "You are more beautiful than the real one. You are not like the rest that bloom and wither away. You are the late blooming bud that stays intact when the others fall apart. Your beauty exceeds that of the rest of the flowers on the tree of life. You are no longer just a simple blossom that is only attached to the tree, you have developed and extended your roots and made yourself a new rare flower. A flower that never dies, only buds and blooms each time more exquisite than before. You are the flower which carries the favored traits of all others and makes everybody lust and envy them." Sasuke recited from the top of his head. "You are like the rose with your beauty protected by thorns, if someone acts carelessly around you than they might just get pricked. You resemble a daisy a simple yet elegant flower. You are also like a daffodil with different and unique traits which make you stand out from the others..."<br>"Found you, Teme!" shouted Naruto next to Sasuke. Sasuke didn't notice Naruto coming so it startled him to hear Naruto's loud voice in his ear.  
>'How long has he been there?' thought Sasuke. "Great, your here," Sasuke said in a sarcastic tone.<br>"Hey, what was that you were saying about the flowers?" asked Naruto sitting next to Sasuke.  
>"Nothing, I was just reciting poetry," said Sasuke.<br>"Oh...By who?" asked Naruto curiously.  
>"By anonymous," said Sasuke.<br>"Anon E. Mouse, never heard of him." said Naruto.  
>Sasuke hit himself in the head with his palm. "Anonymous you moron, which means the authors name is not mentioned." explained Sasuke.<br>"Oh, that makes more sense."said Naruto.  
>"You know your stupidity never ceases to amaze me,"said Sasuke.<br>"Why were you reciting poetry? Could it be that little Sasuke is in love and is planning to tell her thru poetry," said Naruto.  
>"Do you even think about what you say before you blurt it out. I was reciting poetry because I think it's philosophical," said Sasuke.<br>"Huh?" said Naruto confused.  
>"I am not even gonna try to explain that, it would only end up exploding you brain, which I really wouldn't mind seeing that is assuming that you have a brain. I'm still stunned how you managed to pass kindergarten. So before my tantrum goes any further what is it that you want now? Did Sai come with you?" asked Sasuke.<br>"Relax Sasuke, I just came to hang out with you, my best friend, and Sai's over there by the slide," Naruto pointed out.  
>"What do you want to do?" asked Sasuke in an exhausted tone.<br>"Why don't we go to your house?" suggested Naruto.  
>"How about we don't. Let's go to...the comic book shop instead," said Sasuke.<br>"That sound great I'll go tell Sai,"said Naruto.  
>Sasuke exhaled a big long breath and thought:'It's a good thing it was Naruto instead of Sai that overheard me or else it wouldn't have been so easy to cover up. This is a time when I like Naruto being so gullible.'<br>Sasuke looked at blossom which was still in his hand and gently placed it in his pocket as he stood up.  
>"Come on Sasuke, let's go already!" shouted Naruto. Sasuke slowly walked towards them with his hand in his pockets.<br>"Hey, Sasuke after the comic book shop can we go get some Ramen?"asked Naruto.  
>"Um, let me think, No!" said Sasuke.<br>"But why?" whined Naruto.  
>"Maybe, just maybe, because every time we go you stuff your face and I always end up paying the bill," said Sasuke.<br>"I said I'll pay you back," complained Naruto.  
>"Yeah, just like the last billion times since we met," said Sasuke.<br>"I swear I'll pay you back! How much do I owe you?"said Naruto taking out his wallet.  
>"Well, let's multiply ten years by an average of 30 bowls a month and at $3.50 a bowl plus the annual interest, you owe me..."Sasuke got interrupted.<br>"I'll buy you some Ramen, Naruto," said Sai.  
>"Really! You're the best Sai! Lets go!" said Naruto lifting him up shaking him then putting him back down.<br>"I still want my money," said Sasuke glaring with his arms crossed.  
>"You'll get your money eventually, Believe it!" said Naruto.<br>'Poor Sai, he doesn't know what he is getting himself into. Maybe I should warn him that when people offer to pay Naruto's food, he doesn't hold back and empty's out there wallet. But then if I do he'll never learn anything, and beside he kept me from obtaining my money. So I won't say anything.' thought Sasuke.  
>"Hurry up guys, walk quicker the faster we get to the comic book shop the sooner I get to eat," Naruto said as his stomach grumbled. "Man, I'm starving!"<br>That was just the beginning of the rest of their Sunday evening and the end of the of their weekend. Soon they would all be in school for a long 5 days yet a lot can happen it only one especially in high school.

**End of part 1.4 & Chapter 1 **


	7. Distance 2:1

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH2.1: Distance<strong>

"I don't like mornings... especially Monday mornings...Waking up is not a problem, getting out of bed on the other hand is," stated Sakura laying in her bed looking at her alarm clock which read 6:30a.m. School didn't start until two hours even so everyone still went early just to hang out with there friends. Sakura finally managed to roll herself out of bed. She stretched her arms and yawned. She opened the curtains which covered her balcony door, she opened the door and stepped out, the air was calm and the sky was a rainbow of colors for the sun had just began to rise. Sakura went back in and looked at her calender. She began to grown "Assembly Day! Well, at least we don't have training after school today." Sakura said. "I have to look extra nice today for the guest speaker."  
>Assembly days at Konoha Academy were days where the classes were cut short and at the end of the school day everyone from the same school level (elementary, middle, and high school ) would meet the auditorium to listen to guest speaker. The guest speakers could be practically anyone and they would talk about themselves, work, and sometimes about how it was to be a shinobi in their days or about the wars they fought in. Usually the speakers would choose student to go up on stage with them and they couldn't be refused because it would be disrespectful. Sakura was afraid of getting picked not because she had stage fright but because she was very self conscious.<br>Sakura looked at herself in the mirror as she was putting her ribbon, it was the same ribbon Ino had given her, but instead of tying it on the top like use to do she tied it behind and underneath her hair. When she finished she smiled and said "Perfect!" she quickly inclined her head "Who am I kidding, everybody else is still gonna look better than me." Even if she didn't believe it she actually did look really cute.  
>Sakura soon finished her daily routine. She headed towards the front door to leave.<br>"Sakura, honey is that you?" asked her mom as Sakura opened the front door.  
>"Yes, Mom," she replied.<br>"Did you already pack you lunch?"  
>"Yes, Mom, I have everything I need," responded Sakura.<br>"Okay, then have a nice day at school sweetie, Love you!" said Sakura's mom.  
>"Love you too Mom. I hope you and dad have good day at work, Bye!" said Sakura heading out the door. Sakura's parents were always busy working so they barely did things as a family anymore.<br>Sakura walked to Ino's house like she did every school morning. She lightly tapped the door. Ino then opened it. "Goodbye, Daddy! Sakura's here to pick me up. See you later. Love You!" Ino said in a daddy's little girl voice.  
>"Good Morning," said Sakura as she began walking.<br>"Good Morning. You look very lovely in your uniform today," complimented Ino.  
>"You look nicer," said Sakura.<br>"Oh, Sakura," Ino said shaking her her. "So did you have fun shopping yesterday?"  
>"Actually, I did," said Sakura.<br>"I'm glad that you're finally taking a liking to more girly things instead of being inside your book all day long," said Ino.  
>"What's wrong with books?"<br>"I don't mind books it's just, you spend to much time in them,"  
>"What do you want me to do instead? Be one of Sasuke's fan girls and follow him around everywhere screaming or giggling at everything he says and does?" asked Sakura.<br>"No," Ino said laughing. "Even though that would a girly yet funny sight. What I'm trying to say is that you should be more fun."  
>"So now you're saying I'm boring?" said Sakura.<br>"Um...I...Yes,"said Ino.  
>"Well then Ino, would a boring person, such as myself, ever race you to school?" she asked rhetorically as she began to run.<br>"Now that's the Sakura I like to see," Ino said chasing after her.  
>They both reached the school's entrance out of breath. They stood regaining there breath for a long time. After they took their moment they walked thru the open gates of the school which lead to the huge courtyard. Above the entrance in big iron letters were woven the words 'Academy of Konoha'. The school was gigantic it consisted of three stories,three wings and dozens upon dozens of classrooms in which students from kindergarten all the way to twelfth grade were taught in. It had three entrances one for each wing, the north one was the main one and it lead to the high school wing, the east and west were smaller ones and lead to the elementary and junior high parts of the building.<br>Ino and Sakura went to sit at their usual spot which was in the corner of the east outer wall of the school. Near there were some picnic tables, benches, and a big old tree. Ino sat on top of a table reading the latest fashion magazine. Sakura was on the ground leaning against the tree, with her nose in a book, completely forgetting what Ino told her earlier about being a bookworm.

_  
>Sakura looked through her eyelashes over the book to monitor the entrance. She was surprised when she spotted Neji and Hanabi arriving without Hinata. Sakura then closed her book stood up, and began walking towards Neji.<br>"Where do you think you're going?" said Ino looking up from her magazine.  
>"I need to talk to Neji-San,"replied Ino.<br>"Neji?" asked Ino confused.  
>"Well, it's just that He and Hanabi are here, but Hinata's not,"said Sakura.<br>"You're right the little angel usually comes with them, I'll go with you," said Ino.  
>They both walked to Neji. Neji was now in the middle of a cluster of high school guys who were hanging out on one side of the main entrance. There was another tree there and a matching on the opposite side. Ino and Sakura had to squeeze through some horse-playing boys to reach him. Neji was talking to Sasuke and Sai.<br>"Um...Good Morning Neji-San,"said Ino.  
>"Oh, good morning ladies," said Neji kindly.<br>"I'm so sorry to intrude in you conversation, but could I ask you a question?" said Sakura politely.  
>"Let me guess, your question is concerning Hinata-hime right?" said Neji.<br>"Yes," said Sakura bowing her head.  
>"You shouldn't be ashamed, this only shows me how good of friends you are," said Neji. "Hinata-sama slept in a bit, she was just waking up when I left. I'm sure she'll be here soon, so there is no need to worry."<br>**Earlier that morning at the Hyuuga residence.**  
>"Hurry up, Neji-nii-san! I want to go to school already," said Hanabi.<br>"Hold your horses, I need to finish up my breakfast," said Neji.  
>"Okay," said Hanabi impatiently. "But, I'll be waiting outside."<br>"What's up with her? She's usually not this enthusiastic for school," Neji said once she left. When Neji finished he went to the courtyard to meet Hanabi.  
>"Okay, Hanabi we can go now," he said as got there. "Hey, wait a minute where is Hinata-sama?"<br>"I don't know," Hanabi said with a shrug.  
>"What do you mean you don't know? Wait, right here I'll be right back," said Neji leaving his backpack on the porch. He went to Hinata's room.<br>Neji lightly knocked on the door and said "Hinata-sama are you in there?" There was no responds so he slowly opened the door to take a look inside. What Neji saw there was a still sleeping Hinata. He went in to wake her up. Hinata was sleep talking.  
>"No, Naruto-kun don't take that seal of the cage all that old fox wants is to get out and use you," said Hinata.<br>'What is she dreaming about?' thought Neji.  
>Neji then gently shook Hinata to walk her up. "Wake up Hinata-hime it's already time to go," said Neji.<br>"Huh?" said Hinata as she woke up. "Ah! Neji-nii-san what are you doing here?"  
>"Sorry, but I was only trying to wake you up," said Neji.<br>"No, no I'm sorry, I should have been up already. Thanks for being kind enough to wake me up, but I could have sworn I turned on my alarm last night." said Hinata.  
>'I have a feeling Hanabi has something to do with this.' thought Neji. "It was nothing I just found it strange that you weren't up yet, you're usually up before all of us anyway."<br>"I still need to thank you, even if it's my fault." said Hinata.  
>"We'll be waiting for you at the courtyard,okay" said Neji walking to the door.<br>"There is no need to, I've already kept you guys here to long,"said Hinata.  
>"Are you sure Hinata-sama, you shouldn't take long and we can wait," said Neji.<br>"It's okay Neji-nii-san you can go ahead without me. I don't want to be a bother and besides Hanabi is probably waiting for you." said Hinata.  
>"Okay, Hinata-hime I'll to as you wish, but promise one thing, please be careful." said Neji with a sigh.<br>"I promise," Hinata said with a smile.  
>Neji then left the room and went to the courtyard. As he picked up his backpack he asked himself 'Why would Hanabi want to do something like that to her sister?'<br>"So where is she?"asked Hanabi.  
>"She's not coming with us," said Neji.<br>"Then let's go already," said Hanabi walking off, Neji followed still trying to think of the reason.

"Thanks, Neji-san," said Sakura.  
>"My pleasure," he returned with a smile something rarely scene on his face.<br>A second later Lee came rushing to him. "Neji, Neji did you forget you promised to come to Gai-sensei's Power of Youth meeting? Hurry everybody else is already there and it's gonna start soon!" said Lee.  
>'Why does he say it like that it makes it sound like there is more people than there actually are. It's only him, Tenten and I and maybe the Suna siblings since he buddies with Gaara now.'<br>"Okay, I'm going," said Neji.  
>'Why did I ever agree to this in the first place? Oh, yeah so Tenten didn't have to suffer through it alone. She's too nice sometimes she needs to learn to say 'no', especially when it comes to things like this' thought Neji.<br>" Goodbye Sakura-Chan! " said Lee as they left.  
>Sakura gulped. Ino started laughing until Sakura glared at her and her laugh quickly vanished. Sakura looked around searching for someone.<br>"That knucklehead is not here, no wonder it's so quiet," said Sakura.  
>"Yeah, you're right," said Ino.<br>"Is that necessarily a bad thing?" asked Sasuke.  
>"No," replied Sakura.<br>"Well, enjoy the tranquility while you still can, for when that Dobe arrives I don't think there will be any," said Sasuke.  
>"I guess you're right," Sakura said with a giggle.<br>Sasuke stood there expressionless, yet inside he was thinking about how Sakura looked so pretty when she laughed.  
>"Hey, look your cousin is here, we haven't talked to her for a while," said Ino. Sakura glanced at the west outer wall were she always hung out before school.<br>"Your cousin is there too, let's go greet them," said Sakura. "Well, see you later, Sai...Sasuke-kun." She began walking away.  
>"Later, Sai-kun, Sasuke-kun," said Ino following Sakura.<p>

_  
>When the girls were some ways away Sai said "You finally managed to talk to Sakura-chan without say something completely random, but you were a little mean to her."<br>"What?" said Sasuke as he turned his face towards him. "Wait, you can't criticize me if you didn't even talk."  
>"Yes that's true, but only because I am learning to keep my mouth shut to not say things that can offend people. Especially Sakura-san who could punch me from here clear to the next nation," said Sai.<br>"I believe that, after seeing her beating up Naruto after he did something idiotic and flinging him almost clear across the entire courtyard," Sasuke said.  
>"You know what you lack when you're talking to Sakura. You lack co-" Sai was saying before Sasuke interrupted.<br>"Don't you dare finish that sentence Sai!" said Sasuke him giving him an evil glare. Sai started backing up away from Sasuke and Sasuke walked towards him.  
>"Wait, Sasuke you misunderstood I wasn't gonna say anything bad," said Sai.<br>"You can't fool me I know exactly what you were going to say,"replied Sasuke.  
>"The word you thought I was going to say isn't the one I was going to use," said Sai.<br>"Then what was it?" said Sasuke as he trapped Sai against the wall and his fist.  
>"The word was confidence,"Sai said, but it was to late, Sasuke's fist was already at his face.<p>

**End of part 2.1**


	8. Distance 2:2 p:1

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH2.2: Distance I<strong>

As Sakura and Ino walked towards their cousins they conversed.  
>"See, Sakura it is really easy to talk to guys. You even manged to talk with Sasuke-kun without hesitation," stated Ino.<br>"Ha! If you're saying is so easy to talk to them then why didn't you even say a single word to Sai like I know you're dying to so," said Sakura.  
>"Hey, I did say something, I said 'goodbye' didn't I?" replied Ino.<br>"Yes," said Sakura. "But, I wouldn't consider that a meaningful conversation."  
>"Well, maybe I was waiting for him to him to start the conversation," said Ino. Sakura only rolled her eyes.<p>

_  
>"Good Morning, Konan," said both Sakura and Ino when they reached her. Konan was very beautiful. She had darkish blue hair which she always wore in a loose sideways bun. She also always had a white origami rose in her hair. Her thoughtful golden colored eyes were brought out by her dark eyeshadow. She had a piercing underneath her lip on her chin. Konan looked very serious, but was the opposite once you got to know her. It was obvious that Sakura and Konan were related because of their natural distinct hair color which stood out from the rest.<br>"Good morning you two," replied Konan. She then gave Sakura a hug and whispered in her ear, "Is there anything the Akatsuki can do for you?"  
>"No, but thanks for asking," whispered Sakura back.<p>

The Akatsuki were the student security officers. It was composed of upperclassmen (juniors and seniors). The organization was formed by Madara Uchiha (Sasuke and Itachi's uncle). It was a fairly new organization that was established in the first year of high school of most of the former members. Madara is the head of security for the school and thought 'who's better to show discipline towards students than students themselves.'  
>The Akatsuki always worked in groups of one or more people, the teams were as follows: Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko (currently known as Pein); Itachi and Kisame; Sasori, Deidara and Tobi; Hidan and Kakuzu; and last but not least Zetsu who worked alone to some extent. Madara had chosen them for two reasons: one was they were all skilled and two was that they made a good team, that was mostly because they've known each other for so long. The Akatsuki members had lots of control and influence over what happened at the school. They had the most authority of all the students including student council, though many of them were in it.<p>

"So how was your weekend?" asked Konan as she released Sakura from her grip.  
>"Fine, how about yours?" said Sakura.<br>"Okay I guess, I hung out with the guys as usual," responded Konan. Konan was the only girl in Akatsuki which she was completely fine with, but sometimes she wished she wasn't. One girl living with a bunch of guys isn't easy especially when they talk about guy stuff. Konan sometimes felt like the outcast and wished she wasn't the only one of her gender in the group.  
>The guy who had been standing next to Konan the whole time pulled Sakura towards him, with just the motion of his fingers.<br>"Aren't you going to greet me?" said the dark, redhead. His hair was more of an orange color which was spiked up. He had dark eyes and multiple piercings trailing down his nose and ears. He also had two other piercings on his chin.  
>"Of course I was going to Ya...Pein," said Sakura almost saying his real name.<br>He chuckled and wrapped his arm around Konan's shoulders. "It seems your cousin wants to call me by my real name," said Pein. Konan didn't respond.  
>"I'm sorry, it's just that I'm so used to your old name since I've known you longer with it," said Sakura.<br>"It's okay, you're not the only one who does it," he replied. "To tell you the truth Pein wasn't originally suppose to be my nickname, it was suppose to be Nagato's."  
>"Oh, really I didn't know that," said Sakura.<br>"Pein was suppose to be Nagato's name because all he use to talk about was the pain of the world. Once he got over that gloomy phase the name didn't stick that well on him, around that same time was when I first got my piercings he said the name fit better and it has stuck on me ever since." said Pein.  
>"I like your story a lot better than some of the rumors there are about it," said Sakura.<br>"Rumors?"he said confused.  
>"I presume you haven't heard any. Well, there is one that the upperclassmen are telling the freshmen that says you got it because you it like to go around causing people pain," Sakura laughed. "But I knew that one couldn't be true because you're one of the biggest hippies I know."<br>"I glad you think of me that way, Sakura," he said with a chuckle.  
>"By the way were is your bro Nagato?" asked Sakura. Nagato and Yahiko weren't blood related brothers but their bond was like that of true brothers. Nagato was also like a brother to Konan. The three of them did almost everything together.<br>"He's probably with Jiraiya-sensei as usual," he answered. "So, how's my cuz?"  
>"You mean Naruto? I wouldn't know he's not here yet just like Hinata," answered Sakura.<br>"I was wondering where she was," said Konan who was now talking to Ino.  
>Sakura and Pein said nothing for a second.<br>"You know what I find strange Pein?" said Sakura.  
>"What?" he asked.<br>"I think it's weird how Naruto's not your blood cousin yet you resemble him more than his real cousin Nagato," said Sakura.  
>"I never thought of that before, but now that you mention it, I guess do," he said. The hair style, the facial structure, and the skin color match more than that the pale skinned, red haired Uzumaki.<br>Sakura looked at him for a long moment."You know I still don't like how you cover you real eyes with Nagato's rinnegan," said Sakura.  
>"Well, the rinnegan fits my appearance better then my real eyes and if we wanted to Nagato and I can be seeing two things at one kind of like a chameleon,"he replied.<br>"I'll admit they are cool, but I still miss the real one's,"said Sakura.  
>"I have to agree with her," said Konan.<br>"So you're agreeing with the one who forgets my name,"he stated.  
>"Yes, and well Pein it's hard for someone to remember to call someone by a new name when they are so used to the old one." said Konan.<br>"I guess that's true, but you got use to calling me Pein pretty fast," he said near her ear which tickled her and made her giggle. He brought her closer and moved his arm from her shoulders down to her waist. He then bent his head over her shoulder and gave her a peck on the cheek. Both Sakura and Ino sighed at the adorable sight.  
>"Oh, Pein," said Konan in a soft voice. She turned her face towards him and gave him a return kiss on the lips.<br>Konan and Pein had been going out for a few years, since their first year as Akatsuki to be exact. Back then neither Yahiko nor Konan had piercings, and Yahiko's eyes were a brown color similar to Konan's. They had been best friends everything since they met back in the chaos of the village hidden in the rain. They stuck together even when they moved to Konoha. It took Konan and Yahiko a while for them to fully realize their feeling for each other and it was an even slower process to release those sentiments. They finally managed to confessed their emotions to each other with out saying a word and became one of the happiest couples.  
>Nagato had always known about their feelings even before they did. He wanted to see the two people he cared for the most being happy, so constantly yet secretly he tried to help them release those feelings. Once they did start to realize, he slowly started to push them more and more in the right direction until they finally became a pair.<p>

Sakura and Ino smiled hoping that one day the would have their own love. Ino started to pull Sakura away by the arm.  
>"Bye, you guys," said Ino.<br>"See, you later Konan, Pein, say hello to Nagato for me okay," said Sakura.  
>Konan and Pein only nodded and wove at them.<br>"You can stop dragging me now Ino, I can walk by myself," Sakura said.  
>"Good, you were starting to get heavy," said Ino letting go of Sakura's arm.<br>"Yay! I can't wait to see your cousin," said Sakura sarcastically.  
>"Why do you dislike him so much, he's not that bad," said Ino.<br>"He's evil I tell you, and you're only saying that because you can't see his dark side," said Sakura.  
>"Is this just because you are still mad at him for the incident last year?" asked Ino.<br>"Maybe I am. I have a good reason for it also," said Sakura crossing her arms.  
>"He said he was sorry, and besides it was a accident every makes them," said Ino.<br>"I still think he did it on purpose,"said Sakura.  
>"That's your own opinion. I still think my cousin is a good guy. I don't think his so reckless to get himself intentionally into trouble for meaningless reasons," said Ino.<br>"I wouldn't be so sure about that, look," said Sakura pointing towards him.

**To be continued...**


	9. Distance 2:2 p:2

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH2.2: Distance II<strong>

Sakura pointed at Ino's cousin arguing with his friend.  
>"True art only lasts momentarily, it's something that should explode the senses, un," said Ino's cousin.<br>"Will you ever learn that true art is suppose to be eternal, for future generations to see and be touched by it's beauty,"said his redheaded friend.  
>"What's the fun in that?" said Ino's cousin.<br>"Like your idea is any better," retorted the redhead.  
>The two guys glared at each other with crossed arms. Both theirs eyes had the I'm-right-and-I'm-going-to-prove-it-to-you-even-if-it-is-by-force look. Ino and Sakura had seen that look many times before. So before the boys could do anything imprudent the girls stepped in between them and said "Good morning, gentlemen."<br>The two guys looked at the girls between them with surprise and embarrassment on their faces. As the boys took as step back they felt a slight blush on their faces which made them turn away.  
>After a brief moment Ino's cousin spoke while scratching the back of his neck. "I didn't notice you got here," he said.<br>"I can tell," said Ino with her hands on her hips.  
>Ino's cousin suddenly lifted Ino off the ground and gave her a tight hug.<br>"How is my favorite cousin this morning, hmm?" he said.  
>"Fine, but would be better if I were on the ground, Deidara-aniki," said Ino.<br>"Here, better now?" said Deidara as he set her down.

_  
>Deidara and Ino looked very much alike. He had long blond hair just like Ino, but a tad bit darker. They both wore their hair in a ponytail, yet Ino's was in the back of the top of her head while Deidara's was toward the center and was in a much thicker bunch. Deidara had hair loose on the back of his head unlike Ino. They both also had bangs that covered only one eye, Deidara's wore more of a comb-over and cover his left eye and Ino's bangs covered her right. Deidara's eyes were much darker than his cousin; He was also much taller than her. Ino wore a hair pin on the left side of her hair. Deidara always wore gloves that covered all but his fingers and a plain headband.<p>

_  
>"Much better," said Ino fixing her skirt. Deidara looked over Ino's shoulder and said: "Good morning, Sakura-chan. Hey, wait a minute the shy quiet girl is missing, what's her name...Hyuuga...Hinata,right? Yeah."<br>"Hello, Deidara-senpai-"was all Sakura said.  
>"I can't believe you're still forgetting her name. It's so simple. I remember all your friends names, why can't you?" said Ino.<br>"It slips my mind that's all, and in any case you can't possibly know all my friends names," was his reply.  
>"Yes, I do, and I'll prove it...Well that right there is Sasori-danna, your best friend," she said pointing at him. Sasori had gone from standing behind Sakura to standing against the wall.<br>"Then there is: Pein, Konan, Nagato, Kisame, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Hidan, Itachi..." Ino listed on her fingers. "Oh and of course there is Tobi your other best friend..."  
>"<strong>TOBI IS NOT MY FRIEND AND EVEN LESS MY BEST FRIEND!<strong>" stated Deidara interrupting Ino. He had an angry look upon his face.  
>"What's wrong with Tobi?" asked Sakura moving next to Ino.<br>"Yeah,"said Ino.  
>Deidara grew quiet thinking of his response. Sasori who had his shoulder blades against the wall and his arms crossed was getting impatient.<br>"You know it's rude to keep people waiting, especially ladies. Hurry up and tell them what's so 'wrong' with Tobi," he said with a huff.  
>Deidara turned and glared at him. Then said: "You want to know what is wrong with Tobi? Okay, I'll tell you exactly what's wrong with him. First of all he is immature and childish. He has the mind of a stinkin' 5 year old. Second he is annoying and doesn't leave me alone. He follows me everywhere and I mean everywhere and he doesn't listen to me when I tell him to go away. He's like a monkey always clinging on to me. Half the time he doesn't know what the heck he's doing. He is so dumb! I'm tired of having to babysit him. Ah! I can't believe you like that guy,un."<br>"Uh...is that all? He's not that bad you know, he can't possibly be more stupid than Naruto, and besides he only follows you because he idolizes you. If those were the only reasons you don't think of him as your friend than they're not very good ones," said Sakura.  
>"Sakura's right, and besides you can't hate Tobi because Tobi is a good boy," Ino said in a childish voice.<br>"They're right," said Sasori to Deidara.  
>"He is still most definitely not my best friend," Deidara said with his arms crossed and his nose sticking up in the air.<br>"Whatever, you say cuz,"Ino replied then muttered under her breath "He's still your best friend." Sakura giggled.  
>"What did you say?" asked Deidara.<br>"Oh, nothing just talking to myself," she said. "Sakura and I should leave now and let you guys be, right Sakura?"  
>"Yeah,"said Sakura. "We have to go see if Hinata's here."<br>The girls turned around and were about to walk away, but Deidara stopped them by saying: "Hey, Ino aren't you give me a farewell hug?"  
>"Oh, okay," Ino said turning around and giving what he wanted.<br>"What about you Sakura, aren't gonna give me a hug too?" said Deidara after letting go of Ino.  
>Sakura turned her head and looked over her shoulder and said: "No, Thank you."<br>"Why not? Wait, is because of what happened the last time I hugged you?" he asked.  
>"Are you talking about when you sneaked up behind me and I sent you flying? If so then no, I wasn't the one who got hurt. It's only just because blond guys and hugs don't really agree with me" responded Sakura.<br>"It's true," assured Ino.  
>"It's also because I'm still mad at you for your little 'incident' where you exploded my science project," said Sakura.<br>"That was last year, and I said I was sorry about a million times. Just forget about it and forgive me, yeah," said Deidara.  
>"Even if I do ever forgive you, I could never forget. Remember one thing Deidara-senpai, girls never forget," said Sakura.<br>Deidara gulped. Then said: "You know Sakura-chan, maybe I didn't want a hug."  
>"Then why did you ask?" responded Sakura in a smart-allelic tone.<br>"Just because," returned Deidara.  
>"Whatever," said Sakura turning her head back around. "Come on Ino let's go." Ino moved to Sakura's side as she did so Sakura lifted her hair to fix into place. Her hair ended up accidentally hitting Deidara in the face.<br>Deidara glared at her and thought to himself 'You shouldn't have done that, Pinky. Now I'm by all odds getting that hug whether you like it or not.'  
>Sakura and Ino began walking away, Deidara followed close behind. His arms were opened ready to steal a hug. Sakura only took a few steps before she felt his unwanted presence. Just when Deidara was going to make his move Sakura quickly made a 180 degree turn with her fists ready to attack. Deidara looked at them and gulped. "I'm not afraid of you," he lied. "And I am getting that hug."<br>"Just try," said Sakura.  
>"Watch and you'll see, hmm,"he replied.<br>He took a step forward and as he was about to take another, he was forced back. Sakura was about ready to punch when that happened. Deidara couldn't move his feet, as a matter of fact he couldn't move anything below the neck, he was practically paralyzed. When he tried to move forward only his neck moved. "I can't move my body...**SASORI**! I know you're behind this! Get your stupid chakra strings off me!" yelled Deidara.  
>"Huh? Sasori?" said Sakura confused. She turned her head to the right. Sasori was standing directly across from them. Sasori's right arm was extended and out of his finger tips were thin almost invisible threads that went from his hand to all the way down Deidara's back.<p>

_  
>Sasori was a calm guy who usually maintained a cool head. He was tall, lean and slightly muscular. Sasori looked younger than he actually was, he had a face of a fifteen year old even though he was seventeen. His scarlet red hair was layered and his eyes were a rich chestnut colored. He could be the replica to many girls dream guy for he was: smart, handsome and mysterious,though he had have some flaws. Sasori was a very impatient person, he did not tolerate lateness, being kept waiting, making other people wait, and wasting time. Sasori seemed to be someone who was unapproachable, yet he really wasn't. He was also one of those people that you don't want to make or even see angry.<p>

_  
>"Let go of me!" Deidara continued yelling.<br>"No, it's for your own good," said Sasori.  
>"My own good? How is this for my own good?"said Deidara.<br>"You should know well enough that I'm not doing this because I _want_ to, but because I _have_ to. It's part of my duty as an Akatsuki, which you're also a part of," said Sasori. "I'm doing you both a favor so don't complain about not being able to move it's not like I'm controlling you." Sasori as he turned his arm around and motioned his fingers towards himself, Deidara's feet slid across the dirt, stopping a few feet away from both Sasori and Sakura. Deidara turn his head and glared at him.  
>"First off I did this so you wouldn't get shot off into space. Also to save what little dignity you have left (assuming you have any) form getting humiliated for getting beat up by a girl...again," Sasori told Deidara. "I also did this so you wouldn't get in trouble Sakura-chan, even if it was in self-defense I don't want to report you for attempted murder," Sasori said a bit jokingly. Sakura had a small smile appear on her face, she had her gaze down and her cheeks where blushing with embarrassment.<br>After a moment Sakura walked up to Sasori, Deidara's eyes followed her as she passed him. She stood in front of Sasori and bowed her head as she said: "Thank you, Sasori-danna."  
>"There is really no need to thank me, I was just doing my job. You know you don't have to refer to me as 'Danna' either, only that brat is required to call me that," Sasori said pointing at Deidara.<br>"Okay, then what should I call you? Sasori-senpai?or Sasori-kun?" asked Sakura with a giggle.  
>"Um, Sasori-kun will do just fine,"he replied.<br>They stood for a moment only looking at each other.  
>"I know you told me there was no need to, but..." Sakura took a step forward and wrapped her arms around him giving him a hug. "...Thank you," she said near his ear. Sasori was caught off guard, but after a moment a smile began to appear on his face. He was distracted by the hug that he let go of the chakra strings, which made Deidara's body fall forward and almost land flat on his face, but luckily for him Sasori acted fast and reattached the string before that could happen.<br>"Hey, watch it! If you're gonna hold me against my will then do it right and don't get distracted! Sakura-chan why will you hug him and not me?" Deidara said yelling and complaining with his head facing towards them with a frown. Sakura let go of Sasori and turned around.  
>"Don't tell what to do, Brat," Sasori said as he let go of the threads with no emotion on his face. Deidara fell like a rock with his face full of rage. Sakura couldn't help but smile when he fell.<br>"The reason why I hugged him and not you is because he's nice and well...you're not,"Sakura said as she once more began to walk towards Ino. Ino stood there with her mouth open and clueless. Her mind had gone completely blank during the whole scene.  
>"Nice? You call him nice after what he did to me. You know I can be nice too," Deidara said as he lifted himself off the ground.<br>Sakura stopped walking right in front of him and said: "_Can_ and _Being_ nice are two completely different things, and until you understand the difference you are not getting anything from me." She then kept walking to Ino.

When she got to her, Ino quietly asked: "What just happened?"  
>"I'll tell you later," then in a loud voice she said: "Bye, guys."<br>"Yeah, bye," said Ino.  
>"See you later. By the way I forgot to mention earlier that you ladies look lovely today," complemented Sasori.<br>"Thank you!"replied both of them, they turned around and gave him a smile.  
>"You guys look dashing today too," said Sakura returning the complement.<br>"Especially you Deidara-aniki, I love how you're trying to add some new color to your uniform," said Ino with a giggle. Deidara had finally gotten up, when he looked down at his white shirt which was all covered in dirt, he immediately turned to Sasori and glared at him as he patted of the dirt.  
>"Bye," said the girls again and with that they were gone.<p>

**To be continued again...**


	10. Distance 2:2 p:3

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens**_**  
>CH2.2: Distance III<strong>

"Bye...bye," Sasori said waving even after they were gone. Deidara went up to Sasori and punched him on the arm, The punch hurt Deidara more than it did Sasori because Sasori didn't feel it and was still staring of in the direction of the girls.  
>"So, I see you have a crush on Sakura-chan, un," said Deidara.<br>"Yeah...wait no...so what if I do?" said Sasori shaking his head then looking at Deidara.  
>Deidara placed his hand behind Sasori's neck and said: "Sasori, my man... Sakura-chan isn't an easy girl to handle. Out of all the girls you choose to crush on you chose the hardest one to get. If you do manage to get her there would still be a huge age difference she's only a sophomore while you're a Senior-"<br>Sasori grabbed Deidara's arm and took it off his neck. "The age difference isn't as big as you make it sound, it's only a bit more than two years and who are you to talk you flirt with girls from middle school all the time," said Sasori defending himself.  
>"I only flirt nothing more. You're right I'm being a hypocrite, for I myself have dated some freshmen which is the equivalent of you dating a sophomore. Yet, I still don't get what you see in that girl," said Deidara.<br>He thought for a moment."I see a kind, smart, strong, caring, thoughtful, beautiful, and independent young women."  
>"I'm not so sure about the kind and caring, but the others I understand." said Deidara.<br>"You're only saying that because you personally haven't seen that side of her," said Sasori.  
>"I hate to admit it, but yeah." replied Deidara. "So how are you planning to win her over? Today was the most I've ever seen you talk to her and well you're a senior who has never had a girlfriend. People would were beginning to doubt if you were ever gonna find someone, Some even thought you were you know-"<br>"Say that word and you're dead, I'm not the only Senior who has never had a girl actually most of the guys in the organization don't have one," stated Sasori.  
>"That's true. Well back to the matter of Sakura-chan, I guess you do have a tiny chance. She doesn't despise you and she feels conformable enough with you to address you by Sasori-kun and hug you. You do know you still have some competition though right?" said Deidara.<br>"Yeah, like who?" asked Sasori.  
>"Well, all the girls these days seem to be drooling over Pein, the Uchiha brothers and of course yours truly," said Deidara pointing at himself, Sasori laughed. "What is so funny? un."<br>"That's my competition?" said Sasori. "Well, I already know half of them won't be problem. Pein is Sakura's cousin's boyfriend and I know you're not on her favorite list. I'm not so sure about the Uchiha's though."  
>"You may be laughing but I've had a lot more girlfriends than you've had, yeah,"said Deidara.<br>"You know I don't care. I rather have never dated than be like you and use girls as if they were bombs. Once you play with them and the excitement is over you just move on to another one. And you ask why your ex's hate you...You know sometimes I can't wait 'til a girl truly steals your heart and you finally understand that love isn't something to play with," said Sasori a bit angry.  
>'My friend if only you knew that my heart was already taken away from me years ago by the most beautiful girl in the world. The humorous thing is the only reason I toy with girls is to forget about my heart's keeper. She was torn away from me taking the only key to the heavy lock on my heart. If she was still by my side I'm sure things would have turned out differently, and more like you wish they were...' Deidara thought to himself but out loud he said "Don't get mad at me I was only stating a fact. And the thing about my heart getting stolen never gonna happen, you know why? It's cause I don't have one. hmm." What he was saying was somewhat true.<br>"Whatever," said Sasori starting to walk away. He was walking to the big cluster of Akatsuki guys who were standing some distance away.  
>"You know telling a girl she looks nice isn't a very good pickup line," said Deidara as he followed Sasori from behind.<br>Sasori stopped making Deidara run into him. "That wasn't a pickup line, it was a complement, but like you would know the difference," said Sasori.  
>"Wait, I just remember that you completely humiliated me in front of Ino and Sakura-chan, I want payback," Deidara said as he punched his fist to his hand.<br>"It was your own fault and there won't be payback for two reasons:1) It was my duty as an Akatsuki to save a damsel in distress and 2) Have you already forgotten why you call me master?" said Sasori with an almost evil twinkle in his eye.  
>'I keep forgetting he's a guy I don't want to mess with' Deidara thought. "Okay, then let's just say you owe me one," suggested Deidara.<br>"You owe me like a dozen. How about I help you with homework from Friday instead?" offered Sasori.  
>"Homework! I totally forgot," said Deidara.<br>"I'll take that as a yes," said Sasori. He took a deep breath while he covered his brown eyes with his eyelids then started walking again. He didn't stop until he reached the other Akatsuki. When he got there he heard Deidara chuckling behind him. He turned to look at him with a confused look on his face.  
>"What are you snickering about now?" asked Sasori. Deidara just kept laughing to himself. After a minute of Sasori just giving him a blank stare he decided to talk.<br>"Ha! Tobi my best friend," his voice was loud and he was shaking his head as he said it. When he said those words a head popped out and over the cluster of guys. The figure pushed his way thru the guys and finally popping up in front of Deidara. Deidara was to busy laughing to notice.  
>"Tobi, Best Friend ! " said the boy.<br>"Great," said Deidara sarcastically as Tobi gave Deidara a tight hug.  
>"This my friend is what I call karma,"said Sasori beginning to laugh. The other guys, puzzled at the sound of Sasori's rare real laugh turn to look. It only took one glimpse at Deidara and the whole group began to laugh too.<br>"I hate you guys," Deidara said glaring at them. The guys were unaffected by his harmless words. "Get off of me Tobi!" Deidara was irritated trying to push Tobi away, but it was useless. Like Deidara said earlier he was like a monkey clinging on to him and he wasn't gonna get off until he felt like it.  
>"So is there any news from Madara-sama?" Itachi asked Tobi from behind. Itachi knew that when Tobi wasn't with Deidara he was most likely with Madara.<br>"Oh, yes Tobi almost forgot," said Tobi letting go of Deidara. "There wouldn't be a meeting today."  
>"Huh? Why not?" asked Deidara.<br>"Isn't obvious kid? It's because we have one of those neck stiffing assemblies," said Hidan.  
>"Great, another hour of babysitting without pay,"said Deidara.<br>"Imagine all the money you could have made by now," said Kakuzu.  
>"Oh, shut up, Kakuzu. No one wants to hear your stupid money talk," said Hidan rolling his maroon eyes at him.<br>"Stop telling me what to do or I'll kill you," replied Kakuzu glaring at him with his piecing red and green eyes.  
>"Guys, guys, there's no need to fight over something so simple,"said Itachi interfering an stepping in between them.<br>"Deidara you shouldn't complain. You did bring this on yourself after all. You are the one that made it possible for Tobi join Akatsuki in the first place," said Sasori.  
>" Don't even remind me," said Deidara.<br>" Even if there isn't a meeting we need go get ready to start our patrol soon." said Itachi looking at his watch.  
>"We should go now before we get distracted,"said Sasori.<br>"Yeah, and I definitely don't want another of Madara-sama's lectures about responsibility," said Hidan.  
>"Me, neither," stated the other boys as they began to leave.<p>

**End of part 2.2 **


	11. Distance 2:3 p:1

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH2.3: Distance I<strong>

**A while earlier up at the main office...**  
>The main office was in the building facing the main gates. It had huge windows that over looked the courtyard for it was on the top floor. The main office consisted of three smaller offices; Security (to the left), Attendance and Counseling (to the right), and the Principal's (in the center). At that moment four people were in the principal's office: Madara Uchiha who was gazing out the window, Tsunade who was behind her desk filling out paperwork, Shizune who was standing next to Tsunade holding Tonton, and last but not least a boy in an orange mask over his face who was sitting in the far corner of the room playing a hand-held game.<br>"School's off to a great start, wouldn't you say so Tsunade-sama?" Madara said still gazing out the window.  
>"Ah, yes indeed. I was a bit worried about the incoming freshmen but not anymore thanks to you," replied Tsunade.<br>"Yes, Madara-san I don't think we could have manged without you and the Akatsuki. They sure put the freshmen in to place in a flash," said Shizune.  
>"My young Akatsuki have sure grown haven't they? I remember when they first started out, no one took them seriously but by the end of the year even the senior students respected them,"said Madara.<br>"You mean feared them, right?" responded Tsunade.  
>"You would know the difference wouldn't you Tsunade-sama,"he said teasing her with a chuckle. Tsunade's face turned slightly red.<br>"Sticking to the subject of the Akatsuki. I hate to break it to you this early in the year, but you do know most of your current members are gonna graduate at the end of the year. You should start recruiting new member soon or else you won't have a team for next year," Tsunade said.  
>Madara was quiet for a moment, he looked out at his Akatsuki members then said: "Hm. The years just flew by me, for some reason I keep thinking of my Akatsuki as kids and not as the young adults they are becoming...About the matter of recruiting, I don't think I'm going to do that til later in the year when I have a better perspective of the possible candidates to fill in the vacant spots."<br>"Do you already have some people in mind?" asked Tsunade.  
>"Are the new members going to start out as incoming freshmen like most of your current members did?" asked Shizune.<br>"I don't think so, you saw out of control this years freshmen were and I really doubt next year's are going to be any better. My best bet is to go with this years sophomores, I already have some of them under consideration," said Madara.  
>"Who," said both Tsunade and Shizune.<br>He chuckled at seeing them react like a couple of school girls. "Well, to start out with, I was thinking of recruiting your apprentice, Miss Sakura Haruno. She is a sweet, strong, smart young girl, that can maintain a cool head when needed. She would fit perfectly as an Akatsuki and besides she's like a mini-you, Tsunade-sama,"stated Madara.  
>"Sakura would make a good Akatsuki member for I taught her well. Who else do you have in mind?" asked Tsunade.<br>"Another good addition would be my nephew Sasuke. Being in Akatsuki definitely would be a good experience for him, especially if he wants to achieve his goal of becoming chief of the police force after his father. Sasuke is a guy that would have great influence over the other students. The girls already idolize him and for the most part guys want to be just like him..."said Madara. He paused when he saw that Tsunade was giving him a strange look.  
>'Ha! Now that I think about it, did he pick some of his former members just because of their way with the ladies?' Tsunade asked herself.<br>"Um...uh...Tsunade why are you looking at me like that? Was it something I said? You are making me a bit nervous now," he said a bit hesitantly.  
>"Oh, sorry it's nothing Madara. Go ahead and carry on." Tsunade said with a nod of her head.<br>"Well, there's only one more person I have in mind that I'm partly sure about, and that is the Uzumaki kid, Naruto..."Madara said. He took a brief pause and thought for a second.  
>"I know Naruto isn't the best student there is. He's always getting lectured and sometimes he doesn't take things as seriously as he should. He's also not the brightest kid but he's a good kid at heart,"continued Madara.<br>Tsunade sighed in agreement.  
>"He reminds me a lot of his parents when they were his age. He looks almost exactly like Minato and his high hopes of becoming the next Hokage are just like those of Kushina," said Madara.<br>"You are right he does resemble them a lot."agreed Tsunade.  
>"What I find interesting is that Kushina was the one who dreamed of becoming Hokage and Minato was the one who ended up become Hokage. It's funny how life works."stated Madara.<br>"Yes it is. I remember when Kushina first moved here from the whirlpool nation. All the boys would tease her about her dream. They would also tease her about her flaming red hair and short temper that they nicknamed her the Red-Hot Habanero. Minato was one of the guys that teased her the most and look how they ended up." said Tsunade.  
>"Yes, life is ironic. The will of fire is strong in there boy and that's why I want him on my team. He also has this special...power which allows his to easily make friends with almost anyone, and along with that he has a strong understanding of people and that's what makes them comply with him. He also has a strong impression that make people change there minds on how they perceive things," said Madara.<br>_

Tsunade said after a moment of silence: "That Naruto surely is a special kid. Even though he's secretly one of my favorite students now, it didn't always use to be that way,"started Tsunade. "I use to dislike and underestimate him because I thought he was nothing but a foolish little punk that liked to play pranks on people. One day all that changed." Tsunade took a deep breath. "A couple years ago I decided to have a little wager with him. He was sent to my office for the hundredth time that week so I wanted to have a little fun with it that time around. I challenge him to master a technique in only a week. If I won he would serve a months detention but if he won he would get away Scot-free." Tsunade paused. "I really thought the challenge I had given him was an impossible one especially for him. I was expecting him to quit but he never did. I saw him work his hardest just to prove me wrong. His persistence was admirable, he would not stop trying to master it even after he reached his limit. Something inside me sometimes wanted to stop him from killing himself, but my stubbornness wouldn't let me. The week past fast and the day he would prove himself finally arrived. I was thinking about going easy on him during our match but his cockiness soon changed my mind." Tsunade paused again. "I'm dragging this on to long, aren't I?" asked Tsunade.  
>"Oh, not at all please continue,"said Madara.<br>"Okay, I'll sum it up and get to the point. It took every last bit of Naruto energy but he managed to do it, he manged to beat me. Naruto collapsed in my arms and as I held and mended his exhausted body, I suddenly got this overwhelming feeling that made me believe in myself, it was something I had lost and had regained just by looking at that boy give his all and prove that the impossible was possible. For that reason I gave him an extra reward, my grandfather's necklace which will do him good in reaching his goal," said Tsunade.  
>"So what you're trying to say is that he doesn't only make you believe in him but also in yourself?" asked Madara.<br>"Basically, yes,"said Tsunade.  
>"If you don't mind my asking. What exactly was your wager with the boy?" asked Madara.<br>"Oh, I didn't tell you did I? Let's just leave that story for some other time, it's to long and complicated to explain now. Besides shouldn't you be starting you patrol soon?" suggested Tsunade.  
>Madara looked at his watch. "I've still got a while but that boy doesn't," he said looking at the boy who was virtually unnoticed the entire discussion.<br>"Tobi...Tobi...TOBI!"yelled Madara to gain his attention.  
>Tobi quickly got up and dashed to Madara. Tobi his game in one hand and his other was on his forehead in salute form. "Sorry, Boss it's just that Tobi was having so much fun with the game that you gave him that he didn't hear you," said Tobi. Madara sighed at his remark.<br>"Isn't time for you to go with the others?"asked Madara.  
>"Does Tobi have to?" returned Tobi.<br>"Well, you don't have to, but-"said Madara.  
>"But what Boss?" asked Tobi.<br>"Oh, nothing I just thought you maybe wanted to see your Senpai, but I guess not," said Madara.  
>"Wait, Tobi does want to see Deidara-senpai. I will go now," he said turning around and running to the door.<br>"Stop!Tobi before you go could you remind the others that there won't be a meeting today," announced Madara making Tobi stop.  
>Tobi turned around and once put his hand in saluting form again and said: "Sure thing, Boss!" He then walked out the door and closed the door behind him. The door accidentally slammed shut and it followed by a loud "Oops!"<p>

**To be continued...**


	12. Distance 2:3 p:2

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH2.3: Distance II<strong>

Tsunade sighed "I still don't think I'll ever fully understand why you picked that boy as an Akatsuki."  
>"Sometimes I don't either,"said Madara.<br>"Huh?"said Tsunade and Shizune shocked.  
>"What do you mean by that Madara?" asked Tsunade.<br>"I guess I never told you the real reason to why I picked Tobi," Madara said scratching his head.  
>"Nope,"said Tsunade.<br>Madara looked at his watch. "Since I have a little time to spare so I'll tell you. I originally wasn't planning to make Tobi an Akatsuki member. To tell you the truth that idea never really crossed my mind. Tobi was only suppose to be my assistant nothing more. The story of how I chose him actually starts the day before he actually started."  
><strong>More than a year ago at an Akatsuki after school meeting...<strong>  
>"...So that concludes our meeting. Any questions?" asked Madara.<br>"No sir," responded all the members. Just as they said that the door opened and a huffing and puffing Deidara came in.  
>"You're late," Madara scolded him. "You've missed the entire meeting, young man. Where were you?"<br>"Well, at least I'm here," he said catching his breath. "I was helping Jiraiya-sensei in the art room, yeah."  
>"Right, and did Jiraiya appreciate you're help so much that he gave you a kiss on the cheek?" asked Madara. Deidara put his hand to his cheek and wiped off the lipstick. Deidara's face grew red. "Don't lie to me boy. Now all of you fill out your reports and try not to make a ruckus," said Madara as he walked to his office and closed the door.<br>Deidara walked and stood next to his desk which was next to Sasori's. "So what was the meeting about,un?" he asked him.  
>"The usual. You know you shouldn't lie to Madara-sama, he knows more than you think," responded Sasori still filling out the form in front of him.<br>"I know, but what was I suppose to tell him? That I missed the meeting to have some fun? I don't think so, hmm," replied Deidara.  
>"Well, you should have at least apologized," said Sasori.<br>"I should have," said Deidara with a shrug "yet I still got off the hook without having to."  
>"If it were me you wouldn't get away with it so easily," stated Sasori.<br>"Well, it's not you and I'm glad. If it were you, you would probably give me the death sentence for being this late," Deidara said laughing.  
>"Just shut up and do your report," said Sasori.<br>"Okay. Okay, I'll do as you wish master, un," Deidara said teasing again.  
>That annoyed Sasori, so just as Deidara was going to take his seat he pulled the chair from underneath him with his threads. Deidara glared at him as Sasori said: "Oh, were you gonna sit there? My bad." That was Sasori's little form of revenge for the earlier teasing.<br>Deidara got up, and this time when he sat down he grabbed a hold of the seat underneath him just in case. As he scooted his chair in, Sasori said: "You shouldn't have been worried. I wasn't going to do the same thing twice. I believe that once you play a prank it isn't as amusing if you do it again."  
>"Sometimes you can be a total d-" Deidara stared to say before Sasori covered his mouth.<br>"Hey, hey watch your language Mr. Potty-mouth. Yes, I know that sometime I can be mean, but I need to let off some steam somewhere and your usually the easiest target. Sometimes I'm a jerk, but you'll _always_ be a brat," said Sasori putting down his hand. After that comment the boys sat quietly for a while.

_  
>"Oh, Dei I just remembered there was something new at the meeting," said Sasori after some time.<br>"New? What was it, hmm?" asked Deidara.  
>"Madara-sama said that we might be getting a new member tomorrow," he said.<br>"Ooh, do you know who it is, un?" asked Deidara eagerly. 'I hope it's another babe,' he thought.  
>"It's some guy named Tobi." said Sasori. Deidara didn't know whether to laugh or cry.<br>"Who did you say it was again?" Deidara said, his voice cracking.  
>"Tobi. Do you know him or something?"asked Sasori.<br>"Tobi?" he said chuckling as he stood up. "Seriously, Tobi! Madara-sama must be losing his mind if he's recruiting someone like Tobi." Deidara's instant burst made all the other Akatsuki turn to look at him.  
>"The rumors must be true that Madara-sama's going blind, but more than that he's going stupid," said Deidara. "Madara-sama has really dropped his standards."<br>"Hey, quiet down you idiot, he's gonna hear you," said Sasori yanking him back down to his seat.  
>"Who's this Tobi guy anyway? Is he really so bad to make you react like this?" asked Konan who was sitting front of him.<br>"Do you really want to know about Tobi?" asked Deidara.  
>"Yeah," said all of the Akatsuki who were now all involved in the conversation.<br>"Then I'll tell you," he said standing back up. "Tobi is a kid from my class and believe me I literally mean kid. He is tall and thin and always wears this stupid orange swirly mask with one eye hole over his face. He has this annoying squeaky voice and he has a tendency to hug everyone he sees. He is also really dumb and talks in first person!"  
>"That's not so bad, it actually sounds kinda cute. Now I really want to meet this Tobi guy," said Konan.<br>"Cute? Were you even paying attention to my description? Ah! You are just like all the other girls in my class," stated Deidara.  
>"I want to meet this guy too," said Pein. The others agreed.<br>"You know what? You're all crazy! You're lives are perfectly fine without the existence of Tobi! You know what I don't care anymore, if you guys want to ruin the rest of your lives than be my guest. I already have a partner, so it's not like he's gonna get stuck with me! As long as I am not stuck with him for more than I have to then I'm fine," he ranted with a pout. Deidara then stomped his way out the door.  
>"Oh, is that so?" said Madara to himself as he peeped threw the slit of the door. He had heard most of what Deidara said and how couldn't he Deidara was practically yelling it. "I have an idea that will put that boy into his place."<br>"Where do you think you're going? You still haven't finished your report!" shouted Sasori at him, but it was useless he was already gone.  
>"Where did the whole thing about partners come from? You did tell him that Tobi was only gonna be the Teacher Assistant, right?" asked Pein.<br>"Oh, I guess I forgot," said Sasori with a chuckle. "He'll eventually figure it out."  
><em><strong>The next day...<strong>_  
>"Good Afternoon, Akatsuki," said Madara. "I see you're on time today Deidara."<br>"Good Afternoon, Sir," responded all.  
>"All of you who were at the meeting yesterday, probably remember how I told you that we were adding a new member to our family, well here he is." Madara stepped aside so that everyone could see Tobi who was standing behind him.<br>Tobi wove and said "Hello ."  
>"Well, team there were some last minute changes to the plans," continued Madara. "As you all probably remember, Tobi is suppose to be our groups T.A."<br>Deidara stood shocked. 'Teacher Assistant? Nobody told me that,' thought Deidara.  
>"Well, he won't be the T.A anymore, but an official member." said Madara.<br>"You really mean it sir? Tobi's in Akatsuki for real!" said Tobi excited.  
>"What!"yelled Deidara. "So you're saying Tobi was only going to be a T.A and none of you told me! You've got to be kidding me!"<br>"Oh, but that's not all the news yet Deidara, there is one more announcement you'll be dying to know," said Madara."The news is Tobi's your new partner."  
>"My new partner? But I'm already partnered with Sasori," reasoned Deidara.<br>"Oh, I know and you'll still be, you'll just be a three man cell from now on," stated Madara.  
>"You're doing this on purpose aren't you?" said Deidara.<br>"Why would I ever do such a thing?" asked Madara with an almost evil grin on his face. "So, Tobi from today on Deidara will be your Senpai. Even though you are in the same grade you will refer to him as so because he will be your mentor in Akatsuki."  
>"Great, and I thought things couldn't get any worse,"said Deidara.<br>"Deidara-senpai!" said Tobi leaping and hugging him around the waist.  
>"I hate my life," Deidara said as everybody else awed and laughed at him.<p>

"...So that was Tobi became an Akatsuki member," said Madara.  
>"Now it makes more sense." Tsunade said with a laugh. "I also figure out you have a dark side."<br>"So that's why you always send Tobi with Deidara," said Shizune.  
>"I guess it isn't all that bad to torture Deidara with Tobi. It has him more under control. He also doesn't get into as much trouble as he use to. The last time I had to see him in my office was for the whole explosion incident at the science fair last year."said Tsunade.<br>"Yeah, I remember that. You're little apprentice almost killed him because of that." stated Madara.  
>"Well, what do you expect? He did destroy something in one second that took her ages to finish," said Tsunade.<br>Madara looked at his watch again. "Well, it was nice talking to you ladies, but as you mentioned before I need to go off for my patrol,"said Madara.  
>"See you later, Madara-san,"said Shizune.<br>"Yeah, good-bye,"he replied. Just as Madara grabbed the doorknob there was a knock on the other side. Madara opened the door, he was surprised to see the two figures that stood before him. "Hey, we were just talking about you."  
>"No, wonder I've been sneezing so much," said the male figure at the door.<br>"Well, I have to go now but I'll talk to you two later, we have some catching up to do," Madara told the to figures as he left.  
>"You're a little early don't you think?"said Tsunade.<br>"We know but we wanted to explore our old school before the assembly." said the feminine figure.  
>"Childish as ever I see. Well, please come in and take a seat," offered Tsunade. As they did only a flash of yellow and red were seen in the distance between the closed door and the chairs in front of Tsunade's desk.<p>

**End of part 2.3**


	13. Distance 2:4

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH2.4: Distance<strong>

After greeting their cousins Sakura and Ino returned to their spot on the eastern wall, with still no sign of Hinata. Hinata's tardiness was beginning to worry them.  
>At that moment two figures outside the main gate arrived on bicycles from distant directions. They both were rushed as if they were running late for something. There were two bike racks, one on either side of the entrance. The two figures placed their bike on the rack opposite form each other. As soon as they both finished securing their bikes, they both ran towards the door unaware of the others presence. Disaster was inevitable, the two figures ran right smack into each other.<br>"I'm so sorry," said the girl.  
>"Hey! Watch were you're going you idio...tic Naruto, you just ran into Hinata-chan," said Naruto at the same time he had to fix his words when he noticed that who he bumped into was Hinata.<br>"Oh, Na-Naruto-kun, I should have been watching where I was going, I'm truly sorry. Please forgive me,"said Hinata bowing her head.  
>"It okay, really and I'm partially at fault too, besides it was only an accident..." Naruto started to say when he saw something dangling from Hinata's neck which he never noticed before. It was a necklace with a simple stone in the middle. The stone was a pentagonal lavender colored stone that hang on a plain black lace. Naruto was surprised and asked himself 'Has she always wore that and I am just that unobservant? But more importantly could that be the same stone I gave her? No, it couldn't be why would she want to keep a stupid old thing like that?' Naruto was so caught up in his questions that he didn't notice that he was spacing out.<br>"Um. Naruto-kun are you alright?" Hinata asked with a red face looking from his face to her chest which was what it seemed that he was staring at.  
>"Oh, yes I'm sorry about that Hinata-chan," Naruto said slightly flushing when he saw Hinata looking down at her chest. "Can I ask you a question Hinata-chan?"<br>"Sure, thing Naruto-kun," said Hinata. 'I wonder what he's going to ask?'  
>Naruto took a step forward her. Hinata's face steamed. Naruto then outstretched his arm towards her. Hinata closed her eyes, her heart was beating so fast she thought it was going to explode. Naruto then grabbed a hold of her necklace, when Hinata felt it move she opened her eyes one at a time.<br>"Where did you get this?" asked Naruto lifting it up then letting it go and taking a step back.  
>Hinata could breath again for some reason she had stopped. She then grabbed the necklace herself and with a smile she said: "Oh, this I didn't get it anywhere, I made it myself."<br>"Oh,"said Naruto.  
>"Why, do you ask?" asked Hinata.<br>'Fudge! I can't tell her the truth. Think of an excuse fast Naruto.' he told himself. "Um. No reason really, I just wanted to know where to get one... you know for my mom," Naruto fibbed.  
>"You know I could make you one if you want," suggested Hinata.<br>'I should have Hinata-chan is too kindhearted to leave it at that.' Naruto said "That's nice of you to offer but I'll be fine with out it, I'll keep you in mind though."  
>"Okay, well I should go now I don't want to waste anymore of your time and Ino and Sakura-chan must be starting to assemble a search party for me about now," said Hinata with a laugh yet she was slightly serious in what she said.<br>"See you around then," said Naruto.  
>"You too Naruto-kun,"said Hinata and with that they went off in their own directions.<br>'Why couldn't I tell her the real reason I wanted to know about her necklace? I'm sure it would have been easier but still...' Naruto put his hands behind his head.  
>"Also how come I didn't notice how cute she was until yesterday," Naruto said blushing at the memory.<br>**Yesterday Evening**  
>Sasuke, Sai and Naruto all headed to the comic book shop. Naruto was a head of the other two boys skipping and singing cheerfully. He sang: " I am going to get Ramen! I am going to get Ramen! "<br>Sasuke and Sai conversed, yet the whole time Sasuke was thinking how funny it would be to see Sai broke in a matter of seconds.

_  
>Meanwhile Sakura, Ino and Hinata were in a dress shop but not just any dress shop, but the most expensive boutique in Konoha. Sakura was hesitant to go in at first because she knew buying a dress from there would surely vanish most of her hard saved money. She finally went in but only after Ino forced her in by tickling her which was her one weakness.<br>"Ino don't you think the dresses here are a little overpriced?" said Sakura looking at a price tag.  
>"Nope, they're of the finest material, so they are worth ever cent," stated Ino.<br>"I'm just saying because unlike you and Hinata, I'm not made of money," said Sakura.  
>"Well, that wouldn't be so if you asked your parents for more money," said Ino.<br>"Ino you should know better than anyone that I hate bothering my parents with things like that and you already know that I'm trying to be more independent," said Sakura.  
>"Okay, Miss independent I'll just have to find you a dress that you won't think is a complete waste of money," said Ino. "Ooh and I think I just found it." Ino held out a dress in front of Sakura. Sakura turned around and looked at it. When she saw it her eyes opened wide in amazement and her jaw dropped and she slightly drooled. Sakura wiped off the drool with her forearm with embarrassment, she then snatched the dress from Ino's grasp.<br>Sakura examined it and when it came time to see the price tag, her eyes almost came out of their sockets. "I hope you're right that it'll be worth it," said Sakura.  
>"It will be and once I pick out my dress and Hinata's I'll prove it to you by having you try it on," said Ino.<p>

_  
>Naruto was still skipping joyfully through the streets. Sai was not far behind him, Sasuke on the other hand was far behind, he somehow got caught up talking to a stranger about the police department. Naruto wasn't really noticing his surroundings, he would look from side to side yet he wasn't really paying attention. He passed right by the dress shop like he did the other buildings, but this time something caught his eye and he walked backwards right to the window. Inside he saw three girls trying out beautiful dresses. He began to drool and get a bit of a nose bleed. Sai then stood next to him asked: "What are you looking at?" Sai's voice startled Naruto. "Oh , it's just Ms. Beautiful, the Princess, and Pinky. They look nice."<br>"Are you kidding me they look more than nice they're gorgeous. Yet I have to admit you are getting better with the nicknames."complimented Naruto cupping his hands and pressing them against the window to get a better view.  
>"You really think so usuratonkachi," said Sai.<br>"I take back what I said," Naruto said glimpsing over at him.  
>"Well, at least you can't say I didn't try," said Sai.<br>The girls were having so much fun posing and twirling in their dress in front of the mirror that they still didn't not notice the boys standing there.  
>'That dress looks especially nice on Hinata-chan. It really brings out all of Hinata's features. I never really noticed how cute Hinata-chan could be-' thought Naruto.<br>"You're probably staring at Hinata-chan right now, aren't you?"said Sai.  
>'How did he know?' Naruto asked himself.<br>"No I wasn't,"said Naruto.  
>"You can lie all you want, it still isn't going to change the fact that you were doing it,"said Sai.<br>'He is getting good at interpreting human characteristics, so good that it's freaking me out.' Naruto thought. "Well, you have no proof," said Naruto.  
>"I don't need any," said Sai.<br>"Oh, yeah," said Naruto giving him a threatening look. Sai just gave him a I'm-not-afraid-of-you look in return. Naruto began to flap his arms at Sai, Sai just stood there cross armed and completely unaffected.

_  
>Inside the shop Ino finally noticed the guys standing outside the window. "Hey isn't that Naruto and Sai-kun?" Ino said pointing at the window.<br>"Huh?" said both Sakura and Hinata as they turned to look at them.  
>"Oh, dear it is, hide,"said Sakura.<br>The three girls ran into their stalls and popped their head out through the curtain to see they boys and each other.  
>"Why are they standing there? They're not suppose to see our dresses til the day of the dance," whispered Ino as if the boys could hear them.<br>"The better question would be how long have they been standing there?" said Sakura.  
>"I don't know but by the looks of it I think a while,"stated Hinata.<p>

_  
>Outside the guys just noticed that the girls had fled. "Oh, now look what you did Sai," said Naruto. "You scared them away."<br>"What I did? It was you and your sissy fighting that frightened them,"said Sai.  
>Naruto glared at him. "Well, now that we been caught I guess we have no choice but to wave hello," said Naruto as he smiled and wove at them.<br>"You're right," said Sai doing the same.  
>The girls wove back but not to greet them but to warn them. Behind Naruto and Sai stood a demon-like Sasuke with dark aura surrounding him and piercing glowing eyes.<br>"See Sai, they're waving back," said Naruto.  
>"They must be really happy to see us because they are waving an awful lot," said Sai.<br>Sasuke then placed his hands on one of Naruto and Sai's shoulders. They were shocked by his presence, they slowly turned their heads to look at him.  
>"I leave you two alone for one minute and you guys are already peeping at innocent girls through windows," stated Sasuke.<br>"Wait, Teme I can explain," said Naruto.  
>"Oh, Sasuke-san I am so glad you arri- Ah ah ah!" Sai started to say when Sasuke grabbed both his and Naruto's ear.<br>"Ow! This really hurts, please let go!" shouted Naruto.  
>"No, I'm doing this to teach you two a lesson," Sasuke said back in his normal state.<br>"Let go and we'll promise never to peep in public again," said Sai.  
>"He meant we'll never do it again," said Naruto. "Besides it's not like the girls are naked or anything."<br>"That maybe so, but it's still an invasion of privacy and you guys should know better then to be doing things like this," said Sasuke.  
>From inside Sakura lipped the words: 'Thank you', and for that matter Sasuke momentary let go of Naruto's ear and took a bow. Naruto thought that that would be the perfect time to sneak away, but he was wrong. With a strike faster than that of a Cobra Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm and said: "Where do you think you're going?"<br>'He is definitely gonna be a good cop.' Naruto gulped and told him "No where, I'm sorry." Sasuke grabbed Naruto once more by the ear but this time with a grip that was more immense. Sasuke began tugging their ears as he began to walk away.  
>"Come on lets go," said Sasuke.<br>"You can be so cruel sometimes Teme," Naruto said with fake tears running down hi cheeks. 

Back in side the dress shop the girls finally came out of their stalls and dashed to the window to observe.  
>"Oh, poor Sai-kun!" said Ino.<br>"Poor, Naruto-kun!" said Hinata at the same time.  
>"Great job Sasuke-kun! They deserved it," said Sakura.<br>"That's cold Sakura-chan," said Hinata.  
>"Yeah, billboard brow and aren't those two guys your other set of best friends after us," said Ino.<br>"That's exactly why they deserve it, I know those guys to well to know that they can't stay out of trouble when they are alone. I know this because those guys follow me around as much as you wish they would do with you," said Sakura.  
>"That maybe true, but that's still a bit heartless of you," said Ino.<br>"Whatever, let's just get out of these dresses before someone else sees us in them," said Sakura.

Naruto grabbed his ear as he approached the other boys, it still stung from being held in Sasuke's iron grip. He turned his head around to look at Hinata who was still walking towards Ino and Sakura. He turned back and smiled thinking that seeing her yesterday was worth the punishment.

**End of part 2.4**


	14. Distance 2:5 p:1

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH2.5: Distance I<strong>

As soon as Hinata came to sight she was tackled down by two very worried girls and flooded with questions.  
>"Are you okay?"<br>"What took you so long?"  
>"Did you walk here all by yourself?"<br>"Did strangers try to lure you into dark creepy corners?"  
>"Did anyone touch you inappropriately?"<br>"You know we were just about to assemble a search party to find you,"said Ino and Sakura hugging the life out of Hinata.  
>"I'm sorry to have worried you, I'm perfectly fine, I'm happy to see you, but could you please let go of me I am having trouble breathing," said Hinata.<br>"Sorry," said the two girls letting go and stepping back.  
>"It's just we were so worried about you,"said Sakura.<br>"Yes, and we didn't want anything bad to happen to our little angel,"said Ino.  
>'Little angel?' thought Hinata. "I didn't mean to be late it's just for some reason I forgot to turn on my alarm clock and I slept in."<br>"That's so unlike you to forget something like that,"pondered Sakura.  
>"So how was your walk here? Did you come across any perverts?" asked Ino.<br>"No, I rode my bike to school today," said Hinata.  
>"That's a relief, at least we know you a bit more safe,"said Sakura.<br>"On a bike? Hinata-chan I lady like you should never ride a bike to school. Why didn't you ask your dad for a ride?" said Ino.  
>"Oh no, I could never do that I don't want to be a bother to him before he goes to work. It would also be to embarrassing." said Hinata.<br>"Embarrassing?" asked Ino a bit confused.  
>"What she means by that is she thinks it's embarrassing to first be a burden to her father and then to be seen by the whole school stepping out of fathers limo. You should know Hinata-chan better this by now," said Sakura.<br>"Oh, that's right. I keep forgetting that your father is a rich billionaire that owns half the city," stated Ino.

Hiashi Hyuuga (Hinata's Father) is the CEO of the largest importing and exporting company in the five great nations. His company's name: Konoha Goods and Services Corp.; their motto: Keep moving towards the horizon. The great and powerful company was established many years ago by Hiashi and his twin brother Hizashi. The two brothers worked very hard to bring this company up from nothing. Even if the brothers were both equally hard working the one in charge would be Hiashi for being the oldest and to abide by the strict Hyuuga tradition. The Hyuuga have always been a wealthy and noble clan, so it wasn't a surprise that they still remained on top.

"How does something like that seem to slip your mind? The company name is on practically everything." said Sakura.  
>"Well it does and so what? Knowing Hinata for so long I just forget simple things like that," said Ino cross armed. "Lets just go sit down and talk before we go meet up with the other girls."<br>"Okay," said Sakura and Hinata. Sakura reached into her book bag to retrieve her book. Sakura had a surprise look on her face when she felt a extra object in her bag.  
>"Weird," said Sakura as she pulled out the object out.<br>"What is?" asked Ino.  
>Sakura held a book in her hand, the title:<em>101 Words and Reactions<em>.  
>"Oh, it's the book Sai was waiting to check out, I just remembered I put it in here," said Sakura.<br>"A book for Sai-kun? " said Ino snatching the book. "What are we waiting for lets go and give it to him." Ino started dragging her in his direction.  
>"Okay, Okay hold you're horses lover girl," said Sakura. "Come on Hinata-chan lets go over there, and I'll be taking this." Sakura taking the book back.<br>"Okay," said Hinata. "But what a strange book choice."  
>"My thoughts exactly,"said Sakura. "Psychology is not really my idea of fun reading either."<br>"Don't judge my Sai-kun there is nothing wrong if he wants to learn and maybe one day he'll become a famous Psychologist," said Ino.  
>"Yeah, you keep thinking that," said Sakura.<br>**At Naruto's arrival:**  
>"Hey, guys look who's here," said Naruto as he approached the guys.<br>"Splendid, the Dobe is here, what fun," said Sasuke.  
>"I know deep down under all that sarcasm there is a speck of you that can't live without me," said Naruto poking Sasuke in the chest.<br>Sasuke slapped Naruto's hand and said: "Well it must be microscopic because I can't find it."  
>"So what took you so long Naruto were you hanging out with Hinata-chan because she seems to be tardy too," said Sai.<br>'Again with Hinata-chan. What is Sai trying to get at?' Naruto thought, his face turning red from Sai's comment. "No!"  
>"Sleep in then?" said Sasuke.<br>"Nice guess but no," said Naruto. "I was late because I couldn't decided what to wear."  
>"Really? It does seem like that would be the case because you are wearing you usual getup of trench coat, necklace, headband, and of course uniform. Why couldn't you decided it's just another assembly day, it's nothing special."<br>"That's where you're wrong my friend, and where the factor that I know something you not comes into play," said Naruto.  
>"What are you blabbering about?" asked Sasuke. "What don't I know?"<br>"I'm not going to tell you, it's a secret," said Naruto.  
>"Well, it's not like I want to know your stupid secret anyway,"stated Sasuke.<br>Naruto gave Sasuke an evil grin and said: "I bet you do."  
>Sasuke gave a huff then crossed his arms and turn his head away. "Whatever," said Sasuke.<br>Naruto chuckled at his supposed victory.  
>"I was also late because I couldn't find my bike," said Naruto.<br>"Typical," said Sasuke.  
>"So Sasuke on the subject on how we got to school. Did you come on your-" said Naruto.<br>"If you are asking if I brought my bike to school the answer is no. You have to be kidding if you think I'm going to bring my baby to school," said Sasuke.  
>"But why not?" asked Naruto. "First of all you decide to get a motorcycle for you sixteenth birthday instead of a car. Now that you have it you don't even want to show it off at school. What is the point of having something awesome if you are never going to use it?" said Naruto.<br>"I'm not bringing my baby to school for various reasons, one of them is I don't want her to get a single scratch. I also still have Itachi to drive me around everywhere. The only reason you want me to bring my motorcycle so badly is because you want to take it for a test drive," said Sasuke.  
>"So, maybe I do, but still it's pointless to have it if you're never gonna use it," said Naruto.<br>"Naruto, has a point," said Sai.  
>"Both of you stop pestering me and go converse amongst yourselves," said Sasuke glaring at them.<br>"I'll be happy to talk to Sai, he's a better listener anyway," Naruto said in a nasally tone. "So, Sai what happened when I was gone?"  
>"Nothing much, only that Sasuke-san finally talked to Sakura-chan without saying something completely random," stated Sai.<br>"I don't say random things," insisted Sasuke.  
>"You totally do Teme, or if it's not random it's at least mean," said Naruto. "I remember that one time you asked her if her hair was naturally pink. I can tell you now if that was another guy he would be beaten to a pulp, but since she respects you so much, she only answered the question with a smile," said Naruto.<br>"I don't remember ever saying that," said Sasuke.  
>"If you want proof I have a whole class as a witness," said Naruto. They continued to argue.<br>"You know speaking of Sakura-chan here she comes," said Sai.  
>Naruto and Sasuke quickly got quiet as they saw the three girls approaching them.<p>

**To be continued...**


	15. Distance 2:5 p:2

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH2.5: Distance II<strong>

"Sorry, to disturb you guys again but-" Sakura began to say.  
>"Disturb? What are you talking about Sakura-chan? Of course we are glad to see you ladies," said Naruto popping up from behind and wrapping his arms around Hinata and Ino's neck. "Right guys?"<br>Sakura turned around an glared at him. 'Sasuke was right it is better without Naruto around.'  
>'Naruto-kun is touching me, I feel weak,' thought Hinata.<br>"Hinata-chan are you alright you're looking a little pale," said Naruto.  
>"N-no I'm fine," responded Hinata.<br>'Idiot you don't know how much you are affecting her just by being near her,' thought both Ino and Sakura.  
>"As I was saying before I got interrupted," Sakura said with a cough. "I came to give you this Sai." Sakura handed Sai the book.<br>"Oh, it's the book I had on hold at the library," said Sai a bit surprised.  
>"Yeah, I saw it when I was helping my mom sort the books the other day, and I thought I'd save you the hassle of going down to get it," said Sakura with a smile.<br>"Uh, thank you, but how much do I owe you?" asked Sai.  
>Sakura began to laugh. She thought Sai was joking but he was being serious. "Owe me? You make it sound like I'm some sort of bounty hunter or something. Sai you don't owe me anything I did it as a friendly favor." Sakura said with a smile and continuing to laugh.<br>'Good because I'm broke, somehow Naruto manged to empty me out in one sitting,' thought Sai.  
>"All you really need to do is return the book on time, you know or else," said Sakura.<br>"I can do that," said Sai with a smile.  
>"Ow. What happened to the left side of your face? It's all red," asked Sakura.<br>Naruto who had let go of Ino and Hinata was now next to Sai poking his cheek. "Whoa, I can't believe I didn't notice it earlier, it's huge," said Naruto.  
>"You're so stupid that you can't even see anything that is just underneath your nose," whispered Sasuke.<br>"Stop that, baka Naruto poking it is only making it worse," said Sakura.  
>"Um, what happened was..."said Sai glimpsing over at Sasuke who gave him a stern look. "Nothing, just a small misunderstanding."<br>"You know Ino or I could heal that wound up quickly with some medical ninjutsu," suggested Sakura.  
>"There's no need for that, I'll be fine," responded Sai.<br>"Are you sure Sai-kun?" asked Ino.  
>"Yes, and there is no need to worry over me, gorgeous," said Sai as he took out his glasses, put them on and began flip though the books pages.<br>'Kawaii! Sai-kun looks so attractive with glasses especially when he called me gorgeous,' thought Ino as a smile and blush appeared on her face.  
>"If that's the case then we should be going. I forgot we have to go meet up with Temari and Tenten," said Sakura turning around.<br>"Thanks again...Ugly-"said Sai looking at the inside of his book.  
>"What did you say?" asked Sakura rhetorically as she turned back around.<br>'Oh no,' thought both Ino and Hinata behind her.  
>"I thought he said he learned to keep his mouth shut in front of Sakura," whispered Sasuke.<br>'Not this again! I thought Sai was over the whole calling Sakura-chan dumb nicknames phase after what happened the last time. What should I do? If I help him Sakura-chan will beat me too,' Naruto thought as he took a step back.  
>"Calm down, Sakura maybe you misunderstood, you shouldn't act rationally," said Ino.<br>"Stop trying to defend him Ino. I know what I heard, and there's no mistaking it," said Sakura as she extended her hand to stop Ino from advancing forward.  
>"Ino-chan is right, please calm down Sakura-chan,"insisted Hinata.<br>"It's impossible, so please stand aside I don't want any of you to get hurt,"said Sakura as she walked forward.  
>'Aw man, Sai is really going to get it now. There's only one person that could possibly stop this right now, but I doubt he will. Sasuke is probably amused by seeing Sai suffer,' thought Naruto.<br>"Sakura-chan it is true that I used the word ugly but I swear I wasn't referring to you. I was only reading my book aloud," said Sai.  
>"Don't swear in vain Sai," Sakura said clenching her fist. "If you really think I would fall for a stupid trick like that then you dead wrong!" She ran and swung her right fist at his face. "Shannaro!"<br>Everybody closed their eyes at the moment of impact.  
>"Sai-kun!" screamed Ino as she rushed to him. Ino glared at Sakura as she run passed her.<br>Sakura shrugged and said: "Well at least his cheeks will be even now."  
>Hinata went and picked up the book that Sai had dropped, she opened it and glanced at the first page.<br>"Um...Sakura-chan, Sai-kun wasn't lying," said Hinata.  
>"Hinata-chan's correct," Naruto said behind Hinata looking over her shoulder.<br>"What? Let me see," Sakura said looking at the book and reading the first page.  
><strong>The page read:<strong>

_Word 1: Ugly  
><em>_Ugly- unattractive in physical features mainly facial.__  
>The word ugly can have one of many reactions:<br>1) The person could agree and get depressed.  
>2)The person could be unaffected.<br>3)The person could disagree and get angry.  
>4)...<br>5)...  
><em>_P.S: Use caution when using this word towards the female gender,  
>they could get extremely irritated and could lead to sever consequences.<em>

"Oops! Now I feel a bit bad," Sakura said with a indecisive laugh. "Yet he should had know not to say that word around me." Sakura closed her eyes and lifted her head up high. _  
>"Sai-kun!Sai-kun! Please walk up!" shouted Ino. It was no use the unconscious Sai could not hear.<br>"How is he?" asked Sakura. "Not good, I think you killed him, he is not reacting!" said Ino.  
>"Don't exaggerate, That little punch couldn't have killed him, he's just knocked out some medical ninjutsu will patch him right up," said Sakura.<br>"That's easy for you to say since you weren't the one who almost got killed," said Ino.  
>"Stop arguing and just do it, unless you really want him die," said Sakura humorously.<br>Ino remained quiet as she gathered up chakra in the palms of her hands.  
>Sasuke chuckled and began to walk towards the school.<br>"Hey, Where are you going Teme?" asked Naruto.  
>Sasuke turned his head and said: "It's not like you really need to know but to my locker. You should go to after you're done with this...mess."<br>"So you're just going to ditch us?" said Naruto.  
>"You know where I'm going so I wouldn't consider it ditching, besides I also have to go hang out with Juugo and Suigetsu," said Sasuke.<br>"Fine," said Naruto crossing his arms.  
>Sasuke soon walked and disappeared through the front door. _<br>"I don't know if my healing is working he doesn't seem to be making any progress," said Ino in a worried tone.  
>"Just be patient," assured Sakura.<br>Ino concentrated all her energy on her hands. After a while Sai slowly started to awaken and open his eyes.  
>"Did I die? If not, why does there seem to be an angel in front of me?" said Sai.<br>"You're not dead and I can assure I'm not an angel," Ino said with her face as red as an apple.  
>Sai began to sit himself up.<br>"Not force yourself, I'm still not done healing you," said Ino.  
>"Are you sure you're not my guardian angel? You did just saved me from utter death," said Sai.<br>Ino giggled as she fanned her face with her hand.  
>'Now he made Ino full of herself,' thought Sakura. "Sai I want to ask for forgiveness, I didn't actually believe you were telling the truth and I'm sorry." Sakura bowed her head.<br>"It's okay I forgive you, it was just a misunderstanding, but maybe next time could you listen before you punch," suggested Sai. 'Sakura-chan and Sasuke-san would make a great couple since they both don't listen and they both like beating me. On second thought them being a pair would mean double trouble for me.'  
>"I'll try to but I can't promise anything." said Sakura. "Maybe with this incident you'll learn to be careful with what you read aloud."<br>"And to read the small letters before you open your mouth," added Naruto.  
>"Another lesson learned the hard way, I guess," said Sai standing up with the assistance of Ino. "Where's Sasuke-san?"<br>"He already left, he said he had to spend some time with his other friends," said Naruto as he helped Sai support himself.  
>"We should go too then," said Sai. "Thanks for everything Ino-chan."<br>"Yeah, no problem," said Ino as she released him.  
>"Here's your book Sai-kun," said Hinata handing it to him.<br>"Oh, thank you," Sai said with a smile.  
>"Tenten and Temari must be growing impatient," said Sakura. "Let's hurry up and go, we don't want to make those two mad." Sakura ran to the door.<br>"Right,"said Hinata and Ino with a nod as they ran after her.  
>"Hey, girls wait for us!" Naruto said extending his arm in their direction as if he could reach them. It was to late the girls vanished from him again.<br>"Thanks a lot Sai, since I got stuck babysitting you, both Sasuke and the girls ditched us," Naruto stated.  
>Sai only gave Naruto a shrug and a smile, as if saying: oh well it's your choice not mine.<p>

**Continuing... **


	16. Distance 2:5 p:3

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH2.5: Distance III<strong>

**When Sasuke left the group:**  
>He slowly walked through the halls, thinking about what Naruto and Sai had told him earlier. "Do a really say weird things when I'm around Sakura?" he whispered to himself. Sasuke tried to go back through his memory but all he could remember was Sakura's smiling face.<br>He kept thinking and then he halted his steps. "I hate to admit it but those two idiots are right about something though, I am a jerk to her." he said as he clenched his fist. After a moment Sasuke abruptly slammed his fist against the lockers to his right. The whole row of lockers shook and rattled at the sudden force. "It's just that I can't help myself and I hate it. I inflict all my anger of not being able to surpass Itachi, to the people I care about the most. Once I'm aware of doing it it's already to late." he lectured himself. Sasuke took a long deep breath and continued walking.  
>'It's very difficult for me to tell when I upset Sakura for she always has a smile on her face, but sometimes a can catch a speck of sadness in her eyes. Why couldn't she be as easy to read as the fan girls, it drives me nuts not being able to know what she's thinking or feeling. What am I saying? I don't want her to be like a fan girl, one of the reasons I like her in the first place is because she is different from them and actually has a mind of her own. It's still a bit funny how the only girl I really care about is one of the only ones that does not seem to show any interest in me. Naruto once told me that all she wanted from me was my acknowledgment, and I can't even show her that (I'm such an idiot). I wouldn't be surprised if she hates me.' thought Sasuke as he reached his locker.<br>"Why am I getting all sentimental, over my stupid thoughts?" Sasuke said as he turned the dial. "I shouldn't let myself get all worked up over what happens inside my overactive mind."  
>Sasuke opened his locker and soon began exchanging items from his locker to his bag. As he did that he would occasionally looked over at a locker not far from his. Once Sasuke finished his transaction of materials he closed his locker door. His eyes closed and he sighed as he put his hand into one of his pockets.<br>From his pocket he took out a white envelope. He then began walking to the locker he was gazing at beforehand. "I am personally not strong enough to show her my affection face-to-face. So until I work my way there I'll slowly show her my devotion little by little in small ways," began Sasuke.  
>Sasuke looked from side to side as he placed the envelope in one of the slits of the the locker. Sasuke then began to walk away. "I leave an anonymous note and extra gift that compares her divine beauty. I hope she likes it even though she doesn't know that it was I who gave it to her. I know am being selfish because I can see how she reacts to my actions but I can't even step up and show her my face. I guess I'm more than selfish, I'm a coward that the only thing he fears is getting rejected. " Sasuke rotated his head one last time to look at his secret little gift before he turned the corner and disappeared.<p>

_  
>After Sasuke left, a face started to emerge from one of the lockers next to Sakura's. The face soon turned into a full body. The person that came out of the locker was a guy with black and white skin. His skin was split into the two colors with perfect symmetry. The left side of the body was white while right was black. Other then his skin color another thing that stood out was his green hair and yellow eyes.<br>The figure began to chuckle as he said "I guess we just found out a dirty little secret, and that is that Uchiha-san has a little crush on the flower girl. I was beginning to think he didn't even have a heart."  
>"<em>Don't say Uchiha-san you make it sound like we're talking about Itachi-san, and her name is Sakura-san not flower girl.<em>"said the same figure.  
>"Whatever,You know who we're talking about and at least I was close with the girls name, but it's not like I have to remember everybody's name," said the first.<br>"_How would you feel if people forgot to call us Zetsu?_" said the second.  
>"I don't care it's not like anyone talks about us anyway, or you have already forgotten that we're nobody. Let's at least try to stay on the same subject, okay?"said his white side.<br>"_Oh,okay,_" said the black side.  
>"So, what should we do about the little secret we uncovered about Sasuke-san? Should we expose it to the whole school?"said the white.<br>"_No, we can't to that, it would be cruel and besides I don't want to die once he found out it was us who told everyone,_" said the black.  
>"What should we do with it? Keep it a secret?"<br>"_Well, yes, we don't want to spread rumors now or do we? _"  
>"Man, you're no fun and very boring, it was you're idea to watch this mushiness instead of some action."<br>"_Don't complain it was my turn to choose what to watch and in any case watching to much violence is not good for you._"  
>"You are starting to get too soft on me."<br>"_And you're too tough._"  
>"I hate you sometimes!"<br>"_Ha ha. You hate yourself,_" black Zetsu said in a mocking voice.  
>"Ag! Sometimes I wish I wasn't connected to you!" yelled white Zetsu.<br>"_Hey, that really hurts my feelings,_" he said in an almost crying tone.  
>"I'm Sorry, I didn't really mean it."<br>"_Ha! You fell for it. I was faking your words mean nothing to me!_"  
>"Now I'm going to kill you!"<br>"_If you do that, you'll be killing yourself._"  
>"I don't care I can't stand you anymore."<br>Black Zetsu stayed quiet.  
>"What's wrong? You got quiet all of a sudden. Did you actually believe me?"<br>"_No it's just that we should leave now someone's coming this way._"  
>"Yes! Now we can go see some action!" With that said Zetsu began to merge back into the lockers.<br>"_Hey, do you think that Sasuke-san will get the girl?_"  
>"How should I know?"<br>"_I bet you 20 bucks that he will._"  
>"I'll take you up on that bet!"<br>Zetsu faded away just before three figures rushed by.

**End of 2.5 and Chapter 2.**


	17. Closer 3:1 p:1

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH.3.1:Closer I<strong>

Sakura with Ino and Hinata behind her zoomed through the halls with only one destination in mind: the girls restroom. They didn't go there because they had to 'go' but because it was their before class hang out area. The restroom was located on the second floor in the sophomore hall. Temari and Tenten had chosen that location for two good reasons 1) It was near their first period classroom and 2) It was a great place for girl talk without male interference.  
>The group of running girls passed by their lockers.<br>"Hey, Forehead I think I saw something sticking out from your locker," stated Ino.  
>"Eh?" said Sakura as she slowed down and turned her head around. Sakura then stopped and stood in the middle of the hall staring at her locker, the other girls stopped as well.<br>"Come on, What are you waiting for? Go and see what it is," said Ino.  
>Sakura walked back and slowly pulled out the envelope.<br>"Ooh it looks like Sakura has an admirer, does it say who it's from?" asked Ino curiously.  
>Sakura flipped the envelope to both sides.<br>"No, it only has my name," said Sakura.  
>"A secret admirer even better," said Ino. "but their name might still be on the inside, open it and find out."<br>"Not now Ino or have you forgotten why we were running," said Sakura as she began to sprint.  
>"We should hurry then the suspense is killing me," said Ino following Sakura.<br>When the three girls got to the restroom they all tried to squeeze through the at the same time.  
>"Sorry that we're late," they all said.<br>"Huh?" said Temari and Tenten surprised by their sudden entrance. 

**Around the same time:**  
>Sasuke had walked straight to his first period class and was currently standing outside the door. He stood like a statue holding the door handle not moving an inch. He was dazed in thought one more.<br>'Now that I think about it I am a bigger idiot Naruto. Unlike him am not blind I can see who I truly care about, but am worse than him. He may not be able to recognize it yet but he does more not knowing his feelings than I, that know them. I need to build up my courage soon because I am not going to let a fool like Naruto beat me.'  
>The door then opened from the inside. "I knew there was someone out here. So are you coming in or are you just going to stand there?" asked the figure with white hair and dark purple eyes that opened the door.<br>"Of course I'm coming in idiot," said Sasuke as he walked in.  
>" So you finally decided to come hang out with Juugo and me. You sure do surprise me Sasuke," said Suigetsu.<br>"Whatever, it's not like I really had a choice, I had to come and check that you two didn't destroy the whole classroom." said Sasuke.  
>"Don't you trust us enough to know that I can mange to keep ourselves out of trouble?" said Juugo sitting on a desk and looking out the window.<br>"Sure, I trust you Juugo it's just that I feel better if I supervise you guys you know just in case you ..." said Sasuke.  
>"Lose control of myself," said Juugo as he turned his orange eyes to him.<br>"Yeah," replied Sasuke.  
>"Aw. Sasuke worries about us," said Suigetsu.<br>"Shut up you idiot," said Sasuke as elbowed Suigetsu in the stomach went by Juugo.  
>"Maybe I should keep my thought to myself around you," said Suigetsu grabbing his stomach.<p>

"It's fine you're not late," said Tenten to the three girls who had just arrived.  
>"What do you mean by that?" asked Sakura panting.<br>"Well, we just got here too. We were a little delayed because we were just at Gai-sensei's Power of Youth meeting," responded Temari.  
>"You were at that thing that Lee-san dragged Neji-san to. Why did you go to a thing like that?" asked Ino.<br>"Well, Lee asked me nicely to go and you know I couldn't tell him no," Tenten said as she looked at the ground in shame. "I know I'm kind of a push over sometimes."  
>"What about you Temari?" said Ino.<br>"Well,"she said with a laugh. "I wasn't planning on staying, but Gaara convinced me. He's quite persuasive you know. It's a good thing I stayed too or else my best friend would have suffered through it alone." Temari wrapped her arm around Tenten.  
>'Alone? Wasn't Neji-san with her?' thought Sakura.<p>

Temari and Tenten were two unique girls that were alike in many ways. Tenten was a contradiction she was a tomboy and yet a girly girl; She always wore her brown hair up in two buns which really brought out her hazel eyes. Temari looked tough but she was very gentle; She had dark green eyes and put her sandy blonde hair into four pigtails. They were both Juniors so that made them a year older than Hinata, Ino and Sakura, yet they didn't mind hanging around with them for they also shared a few classes with them. Tenten and Temari were both very nice people but they were also quick tempered. The weird thing about how they became best friends is that it happened after a little fight they had between themselves. After the fight they looked at each other and laughed as if nothing had ever happened and they had been friend ever since. Temari is not originally from Konoha but from Suna, she transferred two years ago with her younger brothers: Kankuro and Gaara. Temari still wears the Suna uniform because she says it suits her better. A scary thing about the girls is that a Temari is an extremely skilled fighter and Tenten is a weapons expert, and if they wanted they could create an unstoppable tag team.

"Hey, what's that in your hand Sakura?" asked Tenten.  
>"Oh, this-" Sakura got interrupted.<br>"It's a love note that we found hanging out from her locker," said Ino.  
>"Ino, you don't know that it is a love note, I haven't even opened it yet," said Sakura.<br>"Of course it's a love note what else would it be?" said Ino.  
>"Let's just look and see," said Temari snatching the envelope and opening it.<br>"Temari please don't, even if it a love note I don't want to read it." Sakura closed her eyes. "Because it will be pointless because a couple of words no matter how sweet they are, are not going to change my heart. You all know who my heart belongs to."  
>"Maybe not words but what do you say about a flower?" asked Temari hold a cherry blossom in hand.<br>"Was that really in there?" asked Tenten.  
>"A Sakura for a Sakura how cute," said Ino.<br>"Cherry blossoms are very hard to find at this time of year, especially one as intact as this one," said Temari.  
>"Sakura-chan this person must really like you to find and give you a cherry blossom. I know your heart is already set but you should at least read the letter, you never know maybe he was the one who gave you the note." said Hinata.<br>"You are right Hinata-chan. Even if it doesn't seem like something he would do I could never really know. Okay read it Temari," Sakura said with a sigh.  
>"My pleasure Sakura," said Temari before she began reading the note aloud.<br>**The Note Read:**

_To my one and only Cherry Blossom:  
>I wish I could describe your beauty in one word but there isn't a word worthy enough to suit you. If I were to describe you thoroughly there would so many thing I could compare you to and you still would outshine them all. So I will compare you without words to the closest thing to your beauty, the flower that brings me your name a Sakura.<br>With all my devotion, your secret admirer._

_P.S: I am sorry I couldn't show you my face. Please forgive me my love._

"How poetic," said Ino holding her arms together.  
>"Who do you think it is?"asked Temari.<br>"I really don't have a clue," stated Sakura.  
>"Could it have been Lee?" suggested Tenten.<br>"I don't think it is Lee-san is an open person. If it were him I would imagine that it would probably use the words: youth and lotus a couple more times,"said Sakura  
>"Yeah you're right," said Tenten.<br>"If not him then who?" asked Temari.  
>"Sakura's right about what she said earlier it is really hard to know who, you know with Sakura being so gorgeous and all, even the upperclassmen could fall in love with her," said Ino.<br>"Stop saying that it's not true, why would upperclassmen fall for me?" said Sakura.  
>"Not true?" said Temari. "I've seen those guys drooling over you."<br>"So moving on, what are you going to do about this Sakura?" asked Tenten.  
>"What can I do?" asked Sakura.<br>"Ooh, I got it," said Ino. Ino then walked up to Temari and whispered something in her ear she nodded in agreement.  
>"What are you whispering about?" asked Sakura tapping her toe.<br>"You'll know soon enough, now be a dear and cover up your eyes," responded Ino.  
>"Okay, but don't make me regret what you're plotting," said Sakura as she put her hands over her eyes. Sakura could hear the other girls whispering, but couldn't decipher what they were saying. After a moment she felt a pair of hands against her back making her move forward. A moment later someone was moving her hair and placing something near her ear.<br>"You can uncover your eyes now," said Ino.  
>Sakura stood in front of a mirror which was where they had been pushed to. She took a moment and stared at her reflection. Someone had placed the cherry blossom on the right side of her head.<br>"So what do you think?" asked Ino.  
>""Um...I looks nice I guess, but if I wear it wouldn't it give the admirer the wrong impression?"asked Sakura.<br>"It won't, it'll only show him that you acknowledge his existence, and also it looks great on you, right girls?" said Ino.  
>Sakura turned her head and saw all the girls nodding. She then closed her eyes and inhaled. As she did that there was a thud at the door and two new faces came crashing through it.<p>

**To be continued...**


	18. Closer 3:1 p:2

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH.3.1:Closer II<strong>

The two new girls that appeared were two brunettes. One had short sandy colored hair and the other had long dark hair. Both the girls laid on their hands and knees with their heads facing the floor.  
>"Are you two alright?" asked Sakura standing in front of the them extending her arm to them.<br>"Yes, thank you," said the short haired girl as she grabbed Sakura's hand and lifted herself up. When she got to her feet, she lifted her dark eyes to look at Sakura.  
>"No problem," responded Sakura with a smile.<br>"Oh it's you Sakura-chan," said the girl beginning to look around. "And Hinata, Tenten, Ino, and Temari-senpai."  
>'How embarrassing to have made this commotion in front of my idols,' thought the girl her face growing red.<br>"So what's up with the dramatic entrance?" asked Temari.  
>"We are very sorry about that we didn't mean to disturb you, it's just that we were trying to hide," said the girl.<br>"Hiding from who?"asked Tenten.  
>"Um..."said the girl.<br>"Temari-senpai's brothers," said the long haired girl, who was just picking herself off the ground.  
>"Sari!"shouted the girl.<br>"Oops, I forgot it was a secret. Sorry Matsuri," said Sari.  
>"So hiding from my brothers, huh?" said Temari. "I see you still like those two dorks. What do you even see in them?"<br>"I am glad you're not my sister," whispered Tenten.  
>"Gaara-sama is no dork, he is an outstanding guy. Other than being extremely attractive he is also a very smart and kind person. He also became the freshmen student counsel president by getting all votes to nothing," said Matsuri.<br>"Kankuro-kun is also not a dork, he is intelligent, handsome and can come up with a perfect battle strategy. Also his puppet master skills are almost as amazing as those of the great Sasori of the red sand," said Sari.  
>'I didn't know Sasori's skills were so well known,' thought Sakura.<br>"If that's what you really think then I wouldn't mind having you two as sisters-in-law. I was just joking when I called them dorks, I was testing you to find out what you really think of them,"said Temari.  
>"You really mean that Temari-senpai?" asked the two girls with excitement.<br>"Of course I mean it. You two are sweet girls that love my brothers and the best part is that you're both from Suna so I trust you more with my bros then with any other girls," said Temari.  
>"I see that the Suna siblings sister has some favoritism in the girls for her baby brothers,"said Ino.<br>"That's not very fair for the other girls,"stated Tenten.  
>"I know," Temari said with a shrug. "But at least there are girls I approve for my little brothers."<br>"Well that's true,"replied Tenten.  
>"So speaking of your relatives Temari-san," began Sakura. "Your cousin Sasori is a really cool guy isn't he?"<br>"Yeah he really is, but he has that flaw of being very impatient and like Gaara and all the other redheads in my family he is someone you don't want to temper with," said Temari. "So why did you bring him up all of a sudden."  
>"Well today was the first time I really conversed with him and he came across like a nice guy, I wanted to know more him so that could understand him and maybe we could become friends," said Sakura.<br>"If that's the case you won't need to research to much Sasori-danna is a mostly easy going guy that befriends almost everyone," said Temari.  
>"That's a relief, but I think I may have gone to far when I hugged him this morning," said Sakura.<br>"You did what?" asked Tenten.  
>"You hugged my cousin but why? I am going to need an explanation and start from the beginning," said Temari.<br>"I don't know where to start," said Sakura.  
>"No problem I'll handle it," said Ino.<br>"Okay if you say so," answered Sakura.  
>"What happened was that we went to greet my cousin Deidara and after we did so, we were going to leave, but he wanted hug so I gave it to him, yet he wanted also wanted one from Sakura but she didn't want to give him one because she was still angry at him. It looked like Deidara-aniki had given up when she said 'No' but he was persistent and tried to sneak up behind her to steal a hug, Sakura wasn't going to let that happen so easily she got her fist ready to attack him but just before any of them could strike something pulled Deidara-aniki away, it was Sasori-senpai and he controlled him like a human puppet. Sakura went up to thank Sasori-senpai for 'saving' her and after they talked for a minute she for some reason hugged him and he didn't seem to mind it. The hug made Sasori-senpai accidentally let go of the chakra threads which almost made my cousin fall face first but he caught him before that happened, after a moment he really let Dei-aniki fall on his face, it was a really funny sight you should have been there. After that Sakura lectured Dei as she walked to me, When she got to me I was a little frazzled and couldn't really understand what had occurred, we then really said Goodbye and we left. Oh I almost forgot Dei Dei had a giant stain on his uniform and I teased him about it, he was as furious as ever. Did you understand my explanation?" said Ino very rapidly.<br>"That was more info than I needed. I understand what happened, but not why it happened,"said Temari.  
>"I'll explain that,"said Sakura. "As Ino described in her quick summary, Sasori-kun saved me from the the grasp of the sinister and treacherous Deidara-senpai. I don't know exactly why I hugged him, it just for some reason felt right, it was I good thing I didn't get the impulse of kissing him, now that would've been awkward."<br>"Deidara-aniki is not bad, just misunderstood,"said Ino.  
>"Yeah right,"said Sakura.<br>"I don't think my cousin will think bad of you just because of a little hug. One question though since when did you start calling him Sasori-kun?" asked Temari.  
>"I was going to ask the same thing," said the other girls.<br>"Oh, since today he told me I could because he didn't want me calling him Danna anymore,"answered Sakura.  
>"If he said that then it might have been he who sent the note," said Ino.<br>"Ino! What have I told you about assuming?"said Sakura.  
>"To not to,"replied Ino.<br>"Why?"asked Sakura.  
>"Because it makes an ass out of you and me,"said Ino.<br>"That's right. Speaking of the note writer though I don't know why he wastes his time playing games with me when he probably knows very well that his love might never be returned," said Sakura.  
>"Even though I don't really understand what you're talking about I would say that love make you do crazy things and makes you patient. It gives you hope and even if you don't get that love in return you're always happy to give it to that special person," said Matsuri.<br>"Your words are so true and sincere," said Sakura. "I was fooling myself talking about non returned love because we all are on that same boat right now."  
>Matsuri ran up to Sakura and hugged her around the waist, and began to cry.<br>"What's wrong?" asked Sakura surprised.  
>"Nothing, It's just that you're right and I wish we all get off that boat happily,"said Matsuri.<br>Sakura patted Matsuri's head. "I know I do too," Sakura whispered as she brought Matsuri closer and put the girl's head under her chin. Sakura's eyes began to get watery.  
>"Aw,"said the other girls.<br>"Don't you guys dare to tear up me too,"said Sakura as she rubbed her eyes with the thumb and index finger of her right hand.  
>Matsuri let go of Sakura and said with a sniff "Sorry for getting all sentimental on you Sakura-chan."<br>"It's fine,"replied Sakura with a smile.  
>Matsuri brushed away her tears with her arm. "Sari and I will get going now, are you guys coming with?" asked Matsuri.<br>"If it's okay with you we'll stick around here for a while more,but thanks for the offer," said Temari.  
>"Okay then see you all later," Matsuri said walking to the door.<br>"Bye,"said Sari following her.

_  
>On their way to class Sari and Matsuri chatted about what a thrill it was to hang out with their idols but what they mostly discussed was what Temari had told them. The girls walked to the stairwell that would take them to their downstairs classroom, they were so focused in conversing that they didn't notice the two bodies that obscured their path. Both the girls ran into the bodies in front of them, when they looked up at the faces, they took a step back and their faces began to redden.<br>"Gaara-sama,"said Matsuri.  
>"Kankuro-kun,"said Sari.<br>"Good morning ladies," said both Gaara and Kankuro.  
>Neither group moved. Gaara then cleared his throat and said "Kankuro how about we escort these ladies to class?"<br>"Fine by me I have some time to spare,"replied Kankuro.  
>"Well, that is if you ladies want us to. Is it alright with you?"asked Gaara.<br>"Sure," they both answered. The girls couldn't believe what just happened so they pinched themselves to make sure they weren't dreaming and of course they weren't.

_  
>The four of them walked down the stairs in groups of two. Kankuro and Sari in front followed by Gaara and Matsuri. Sari and Kankuro were already talking and laughing with each other, while Matsuri and Gaara remained silent. Gaara and Matsuri kept looking at each other and then quickly turning away.<br>"Um. Matsuri-chan are you okay? You are awfully quiet today," said Gaara.  
>"Oh, don't worry about me I'm perfectly fine Gaara-sama," she replied.<br>"Okay if you say so," said Gaara. "...I was just saying because you used to talk more to me in Suna."  
>"Yeah, but back then you were my tutor and we spent more time together," said Matsuri.<br>"That's true...Matsuri-chan could I maybe ask a favor of you?" asked Gaara.  
>"Whatever you want," she answered.<br>Gaara took a deep breath. "Matsuri-chan would it be okay with you if you stopped calling me Gaara-sama when I am not doing my presidential duties. It's just that tag makes me sound more important than I really am,"said Gaara.  
>"You are important other than being president you are also the son of our Kazekage, Suna's great leader. I also wouldn't know what to call you,"Matsuri stated.<br>"There is nothing special about being the Kazekage's son I am a normal person just like you. As for the name, you've known me long enough so you can address me as Gaara-kun," he said.  
>'Oh no I couldn't that's just to informal but it was the favor he requested so I can't refuse,' thought Matsuri. "Okay I'll call you that."<br>"Thank you, Matsuri-chan," said Gaara with a uncommon smile on his face.  
>"You're welcome, Gaara-kun," grinned Matsuri, what she said sounded awkward but nice to her.<br>"You know if you ever need tutoring or any help on anything don't hesitant in asking me," offered Gaara.  
>"Thanks, I'll definitely keep that in mind," said Matsuri.<br>"We're here," stated Kankuro as he and Sari turned to look at Gaara and Matsuri who were focusing on each other and not on their surroundings.  
>"Freshmen hall already!"said Matsuri.<br>"I guess it is," responded Gaara his face a bit pink.  
>Kankuro slid opened the door and signaled for the rest to enter. Sari went in first followed by Matsuri.<br>"Thanks for the escort Kankuro-kun," said Sari.  
>"You too Gaara-kun," said Matsuri.<br>"Our pleasure," they both said with a bow. The girls then curtsied and went further in to the classroom. Gaara slid the door shut.  
>"Aren't you going in also Gaara? It is your classroom after all," asked Kankuro.<br>"I know but I want to discuss some matters with you first," said Gaara as he walked away in such a way that said follow me, Kankuro preceded.

**Continued...**


	19. Closer 3:1 p:3

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH.3.1:Closer III<strong>

**Still in the girls restroom:**  
>"...can you believe it! He called me an angel, it was so magical," Ino said with a sigh as she twisted her ponytail with both hands.<br>"That's nice and all, but please get your head out of the clouds and come back down to earth,"said Temari.  
>"I guess now it's your turn Hinata-chan to share something interesting that has happened to you today,"said Tenten.<br>Hinata was standing next to the door being quiet like always. "Um well," said Hinata in a soft voice while tapping her index fingers like she normally did when she is nervous. "When I arrived to school I spoke to Naruto-kun for some reason I was less nervous today and it felt really good to do so."  
>"I'm happy for you Hinata-chan,"said Sakura.<br>"That's great!"said Tenten.  
>"Starting to conquer your fears, huh?"said Temari rhetorically.<br>"So you ready to confess yet?"said Ino.  
>"Ino!"shouted the other girls.<br>"What? It was just a suggestion and you know I was only kidding," replied Ino.  
>"So now that we're done sharing how about we head to class?" suggested Sakura.<br>"You're such a partypooper Sakura," said Ino.  
>"Yeah, what's the rush? Kakashi-sensei is always late anyway," added Temari.<br>"Tema-chan's right," said Tenten.  
>"Okay then just Hinata-chan and I will go to class," said Sakura as she went to the door and tugged Hinata to follow her.<br>"Yes,"said Hinata as she followed.  
>As Sakura pushed open the door she paused for a moment and a smirk started to appear on her face. She then turned her head and said:"So we'll be leaving now,but I really thought you three would want to go to speak to the guys before class, especially you Temari-san since you have talked to him today, or have you? Oh well I guess I was wrong." She turned back her head and began pushing the door once more.<br>"Wait, we'll go," said Temari.  
>'It worked just as I expected,' thought Sakura.<br>'She's tricky,'thought Temari.  
>"Great then what are we waiting for," said Sakura pushing the door open all the way. When she did so and they began walking out a group of four girls began walking in.<br>"Thanks for opening the door for us. Losers," said the dark haired girl in front.  
>"Why do you bother thanking them Kin? If you do so they will think that they are remotely near our level," said the blonde behind her.<br>"So true Shion," said one of the two red heads that followed her.  
>"Snobs,"whispered Temari.<br>"What did you say?"asked the same redhead.  
>"None of your concern Tayuya,"replied Temari.<br>"Hm,"said Tayuya squinting her eyes at Temari then holding her head up high.  
>"Good morning Karin," said Sakura with a smile on her face but as usual there was no reply.<br>The four girls: Kin, Shion, Tayuya and Karin were part of an exclusive group of people. They were part of the self-proclaimed popular people, to put it differently the snobby rich brats that thought they were better then everyone else. If you weren't one of them, you were a nobody in other words a Loser.  
>"Why do you even try to be nice to her Sakura-san if she doesn't treat you the same?" asked Tenten.<br>"She's right and besides she is one of the snobs and the founder and president of the Sasuke Uchiha fan club, shouldn't she be your rival?" said Temari.  
>"I don't care if she's a snob or likes Sasuke, Ino you used to like him too and we're still friends. I am nice to her because she is not like the others she didn't use to be this way. When she started hanging out with Shion and the others that's she began distancing herself, she is still the same person and I feel it in my heart that one day we will become great friends,"said Sakura.<br>"Yeah, but you know what they say once a snob always a snob," said Temari.  
>"Don't you remember that once we were offered membership but we rejected because we rather be losers than snobs," said Tenten somewhat changing the subject.<br>"And now we are paying for that decision with humiliation," replied Ino.  
>"But it's worth it," said Temari.<br>"I know what I'm about to say may sound impossible to you but I have a strong feeling that one of this days that group will dissolve," said Sakura.  
>The other girls got quiet for a moment then began to laugh, excluding Hinata that is.<br>"Nice one Sakura," said Ino walking away.  
>"I wasn't joking!" said Sakura.<br>"Don't mind them Sakura-chan just never give up your hope and besides I believe you,"said Hinata.  
>"Thanks," said Sakura smiling at her, Hinata only smiled back.<p>

As the girls kept walking to class a person walking in the opposite direction approached them. It was a masculine figure, who had long hair held in a ponytail. His hair was as dark as his onyx eyes. One distinctive feature he had were two symmetrical lines that ran from his nose down to his cheeks. He was wearing a black button up jacket over white uniform. The black garment was lined with red and had a red cloud symbol both on the middle of his back and on his right pocket this only symbolized that he was an Akatsuki.  
>"Good morning mademoiselles," he said.<br>"Good morning Itachi-senpai,"replied all the girls.  
>"Now don't be late to class for it would be a real shame to see you lovely ladies in detention,"said Itachi as he passed them.<br>"Don't worry, we'll be on time, bye," said the girls simultaneously again.  
>"Yes farewell to you too and by the way that's a beautiful flower you have there Sakura-chan," he said with a chuckle.<br>"Thank you," said Sakura turning around but when she turned he was already gone.  
>"Hey, do you guys think that it might have been Itachi-" started Ino but stopped at the sight of all the other girls glaring at her. "I'll shut up now."<br>Temari then looked at her watch and began to run. The other girls followed.  
>"What's the rush the classroom is right around the corner?" asked Tenten.<br>"The first bell is about to ring,"replied Temari.  
>"So what? It's just the first bell, and weren't you the one that didn't mind being late because Kakashi-sensei's always late?"said Sakura.<br>"Yeah, but one can never be too cautious and I definitely don't want detention,"replied Temari.  
>"So you are a goody-two-shoes after all," Sakura said with a giggle.<p>

_  
>Temari was the first to barge in through the door the rest of the girls copied. Everybody in the class room turned to look at them."What are you looking at?"exclaimed Temari and with just that everybody went back to minding their own business. "As I thought."<br>Not long after the bell rang and the girls were already at their seats.  
>"How troublesome," said the voice of the boy who sat behind Temari.<br>"What are you complaining about now Shika?" asked Temari as she leaned back her chair and placed her head on his desk.  
>"Other that you, about it being Monday, about having to come to school, but mostly about the fact that it's only first period," he replied.<br>"You complain to much. So are you also complaining about having to escort me to my second period class?" asked Temari.  
>"Aw. I still have to do that? It's such a drag,"said Shikamaru.<p>

_  
>Ino and Hinata chatted with Sakura who sat in the row in front of them, Ino was seated right behind Sakura with Hinata to her right and Sai to her left. Sakura was placed in between Naruto and Sasuke which avoided them from fighting.<br>Sasuke was focused on the flower in Sakura's hair, when he saw it caught him by surprise. 'She is wearing the flower I gave her, but what exactly does this mean?' he thought a half smile appearing on his face.

The whole class was talking and goofing off like they normally did before Kakashi-sensei's arrival. Everyone was unready for what occurred next. The door slid open before the ringing of the second bell(the tardy bell), and a tall male with gray hair, a mask over his nose and a blemished eye entered the room. It was Kakashi-sensei!  
>"Sorry, I'm late class but it's just that I was-"began Kakashi.<br>"Um. Kakashi-sensei you're not late," said Naruto.  
>"But I could have sworn I heard the bell ring,"stated Kakashi.<br>"It was only the first bell Sensei," replied Naruto.  
>"That's strange because my watch also said it was 8:33 when I last looked at it,"he said as he looked at the class clock which read 8:28 and then at his watch which read 8:33 once more. Kakashi then began to laugh. All the students looked at him awkwardly.<br>"What's so funny Sensei?"asked Naruto.  
>"I so clumsy sometimes,"he said with a chuckle. "My watch was wrong because I forgot to reset it when I woke up this morning. I turned it off when I went to bed last night." Kakashi still laughed.<br>'Kakashi-sensei goes to sleep at eight?' thought the students.  
>"So why were you supposedly late this time Sensei?"asked Sasuke.<br>"Um-"was all Kakashi got to say.  
>"Was it because you were with your girlfriend Sensei?" said Ino.<br>'How does she...' thought Kakashi his face turning pink. The 8:30 bell then rang which meant it was time to begin class. "Let's quit asking questions and start class," said Kakashi. "Now I'll take attendance and for a first on time."  
>Kakashi began calling out the names and they would answer him by saying "Present". When Kakashi was half way through the list the four girls that intersected Sakura and the others in the restroom arrived. They came in as they did any other day, they were completely unaware of their Sensei's presence. Kakashi as the students got quiet at their arrival. The group of girls went and stood in front of their silent classmates.<br>"Why so silent?" asked Kin.  
>"Did the cat get your tongues?"said Tayuya.<br>"No they're probably stunned to see our divine glory and are speechless," said Shion. Temari and the other girls couldn't contain their laughter.  
>"If that's not it then what is it? You are all acting as if stupid Kakashi-sensei were here!" stated Shion.<br>Nobody said a word they only pointed towards the four girls indicating them to turn around. The four girls turn their heads slowly.  
>"Kakashi-sensei!" exclaimed the girls in the front of the class.<br>"Karin how come you didn't sense for his chakra before coming in?" whispered Shion.  
>"I didn't think it would be necessary since he's never here," Karin whispered back.<br>The four girls then turned to face Kakashi.  
>"Your classmates may not be stunned at your entrance but I am. I thought you were all good girls and knew better than to come in as if you weren't late and disrupt class. I was thinking of letting this tardy slide, but after hearing what you said I have decided to give you ladies three days detention," stated Kakashi-sensei.<br>"That's not fair Kakashi-sensei!"complained the four girls.  
>"Oh, it's not? Then how about a weeks detention?" he asked.<br>"We'll take the three days,"replied the girls quickly.  
>"That sounds better. Now since I have to resume class, I won't have time to fill out your detention slips, so I'll send you to the main office and have them fill it out there,"said Kakashi. "One more thing, it's not that I don't trust you girls to get there by yourselves but I'll feel a lot better if you have an escort with you."<br>'Escort?'thought the girls.  
>"Now your escort will be none other than-"Kakashi paused for a second when someone opened the door from the outside and popped their head through."Pein?"<br>"Pein!"said the girls.  
>"'Sup?"said Pein with a lift of his head. "And what a surprise your actually here Sensei."<br>"What can I do for you Pein?"asked Kakashi.  
>"Oh, nothing I was just finishing up my rounds when I passed by and found it so quiet it seemed strange so I came to check it out, and surprisingly you were here," said Pein. "Is there anything you want me to do for you Sensei?"<br>"Your timing couldn't have been better, if you don't mind could you please accompany these young ladies to Uchiha Madara-san's office to receive three days of detention."  
>"At your service Sensei,"said Pein in the hallway. "Now come on girls lets not delay."<br>"Why did it have to be Pein?"whispered Kin as she walked to the door.  
>"He's scary," replied Shion.<br>"Don't forget to mention handsome,"added Tayuya.  
>"Tayuya!"exclaimed the three other girls.<br>"What? He is," said Tayuya.  
>As soon as they left Kakashi stated roll call again form where he left off.<br>'I guess karma does exist,' thought Tenten and the other for girls.

**End of 3.1 **


	20. Closer 3:2

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH.3.2:Closer<strong>

After the occurrences at the beginning of Kakashi's Literature class everything else ran as usual, which was practically reading and writing the whole period. When the bell rang early everybody including Kakashi-sensei were relieved. They all scattered in different directions, the sophomores went to Ebisu's Math class, the juniors went to Iruka's History class, and Kakashi disappeared to who knows where only to arrive late to class once again.  
>Shikamaru had his hands in his pockets and his brown eyes gazing at the ground as he walked along side Temari.<br>"How did I get stuck doing this again?" he asked.  
>"Tired of it already Shika?" said Temari. "It seems that you already forgotten that this was the favor I wanted for saving your sorry ass so many time."<br>"Oh right, don't remind me," said Shikamaru. "Hey, now that I think about it I never asked for your help any of those times you 'saved' me."  
>"Yeah, but that's only because your manly pride won't let you. Your eyes said otherwise so I had no choice but to help you. It's your fault I have to save you cause you can't hit a girl and anyways no one tells you to go pick I fight with a girl,"said Temari.<br>"I don't pick a fight with them they come to me, fighting a girl is the last thing I want to do,"said Shikamaru. "Don't you remember Temari that you were one of those girls too. You also decided to fight me one day, I almost won only by using strategy, but I gave up."  
>"Oh yeah, now I remember you quit like a coward," said Temari.<br>"If you say so, but that's not how it went through in my mind. I gave up because I was almost out of energy and I didn't want to risk it, I could have easily beaten you if I wanted to but decided not to. It was a good thing I quit and let you win because if I hadn't you would still be looking for a rematch and that's just too troublesome for me," said Shikamaru.  
>"So you're are trying to tell me that you were to lazy to defeat me?"asked Temari. "That's what I hate the most about you Shikamaru. You are completely capable of doing so many things with that brilliant brain of yours, but you waste that ability because your too damn lazy."<br>"I am only like that because being a genius is to much work for me. Being the guy that always has to right with no room for mistakes isn't me. That's why I only use my brain when it's truly necessary." said Shikamaru. They both got quiet.  
>'I never thought of it like that,' thought Temari.<br>"Um, Temari you should stop rescuing me," said Shikamaru.  
>"Is this because you don't want to owe me any more favors?" she said jokingly.<br>"No it's not because of that." Shikamaru said with a sigh. "It just that the fights are meant for me and me only not for you. Even if I don't fight in them I don't want you getting involved, because I don't want to see get you hurt because of me."  
>"But Shika-" began Temari but Shikamaru covered her mouth without even looking at her.<br>"Could you also reduce your own fights a bit, I know it'll be hard for you, since your a bit quick tempered, but you should really try to prevent any useless conflicts," he said as he put down his hand.  
>"Hey, that's kinda sweet of you to worry about me like that,"said Temari with a smile.<br>"How troublesome, I wasn't going for that at all. I only wanted you to be more careful and avoid getting into trouble." said Shikamaru his face getting a bit warmer. "Good we're here."  
>"We really are and I was just getting into the conversation," said Temari.<br>"We'll continue it some other time,"said Shikamaru beginning to turn around.  
>"Hey, Shika?" asked Temari.<br>"Yeah,"he replied stopping.  
>"Are you angry because you have to walk me?"asked Temari.<br>"Nah. It's not exactly what I want to do, but I don't hate it," he answered.  
>"What your saying is that you rather be in class taking a cat nap, but you don't mind hanging out with me instead?" said Temari.<br>"I guess so," said Shikamaru with a yawn as he stretched. He then began walking away. "See ya later Temari." He stated as he held up his hand.  
>"Yeah, next period to be exact," she returned.<br>"You are such a drag," said Shikamaru turning his head to see Temari giving him an assuring smile. He turned back his head and shook it.  
>"Thank you Shika," Temari called out.<br>Shikamaru took a sigh and said: "It's nothing...Tema."

**Also after first period:**  
>Neji, Tenten and Lee walked together to class as they normally did.<br>"Hey, guys I'll be right back I have to go to the restroom,"stated Lee.  
>"We don't need to know every detail just go," said Neji.<br>"I'll be back in a flash," said Lee sprinting away.  
>"You really don't need to rush, go ahead and take you time," Neji told him.<br>Tenten let out a giggle.  
>"What do you laugh at?" asked Neji looking at her.<br>"Just at the fact that Lee makes a challenge for himself out of everything he does,"said Tenten.  
>"Do you laugh because you find it funny? Or amusing?" asked Neji.<br>"A little of both. I really love that 'give it your all' spirit of his. It show me to never give up and that theirs always room for self improvement." replied Tenten.  
>"Oh,"said Neji turning his head forward.<br>"Yet that trait of Lee's also gets annoying and embarrassing at times when he goes a little overboard with it. It's at times like those that I'm happy to have you around to accompany me through that torment," said Tenten with a warming grin.  
>"Well, sometimes you volunteer yourself to that torture. Tenten you are too kind at times," stated Neji.<br>"Are you trying bring up the 'The Power of Youth' meeting?" said Tenten with hands on her hips. "I know I put ourselves into that mess but I had no choice I couldn't say 'no' and disappoint Lee. And believe me or not, you are just as kind as I am," said Tenten.  
>"That's not necessarily true. I am only kind with those I care about,"said Neji. When he realized what he said his face began to turn pink.<br>"Neji you care about m-" Tenten said about to put her hand on his shoulder.  
>"Hey, I'm back you guys," stated Lee as he popped up in between Neji and Tenten. "Oh, am I interrupting something?" Lee looked at them both who where know facing different directions.<br>"No, not at all," said both Tenten and Neji simultaneously.  
>"Are you guy sure I didn't miss something?" asked Lee.<br>"Nothing," they both replied.  
>"Okay then onward to class at full speed!" exclaimed Lee pointing straight ahead.<br>"Why not," replied both Neji and Tenten with a bit of depression in their tone.  
>'Thanks a lot Lee, you ruined my chance to unveil some of Neji Hyuuga's infrequent feelings,' thought Tenten.<br>'I nearly told Tenten my emotions, I wouldn't have minded having them reviled but I guess this is neither the time nor the place,' thought Neji.  
>'I wonder what really happened between them when I was gone?' thought Lee.<p>

The next couple periods went by rapidly. For third period the juniors and sophomores made a switch of classes, the sophomores now went to History and the juniors to Math. Fourth period wasn't really decided by grade but more by gender, all the girls skipped to Kurenai-sensei's Home Economics class while the guys trotted to Asuma-sensei's Metal, Wood and Auto Shop. At the end of this fourth class would be the arrival for the long awaited...Lunch.

**End of 3:2 **


	21. Closer 3:3 p:1

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH.3.3:Closer I<strong>

Lunchtime the period everybody waits for, the only 'class' where you can talk and horseplay with your friends without getting scolded by a teacher. As in the other classes the two genders distanced themselves, it was if there was some sort of force-field repelling them apart to be more accurate it was more like a wall that neither group had the guts to overcome.  
>Since there was still nice weather everybody migrated and ate their lunch outside. Most of the students went to the outside picnic area which was located in the opened end of the schools inner courtyard. Their were many long picnic tables in the courtyard and they were all occupied. The guys normally took the tables that were closer to the soccer field, while the girls sat at the opposite end.<br>During lunch the guys tended to fight amongst themselves and the girls to gossip, those differences are what mainly separated them from each other also because it was normal for the two genders to think that they where in different dimensions even if they were so close to each other.

**A Typical Lunchtime at Konoha Academy (Girls' Version):**  
>Temari, Tenten, Ino, Hinata and Sakura usually sat at a table together with no one else but them, it made sense since everybody only sat with their friends.<br>"The day seems to be flying by because of the shortened assembly schedule, don't you think?" asked Tenten as she sat down toward the center of the table.  
>"It sure is, I can't believe it's already lunchtime," said Hinata as she sat next to her.<br>"I don't either, but I don't mind. I'm starving," said Temari sitting herself on the other side of Tenten.  
>"I am only glad that it's a pretty laid back day and that we haven't gotten any homework so far," added Ino seating herself across from the three girls.<br>"I'm just enjoying the fact that the the weather is still nice," said Sakura placing herself next to Ino.

_  
>All the girls then began to unpack their homemade boxed lunches. As they did so, they where oblivious of the two people that approached the table.<br>"Um...Is it okay if we sit here with you?" asked Matsuri with a tray in her hand and Sari behind her.  
>"Of course you can Matsuri, Sari," stated Sakura.<br>"Thanks a million," said Matsuri as she took a seat at the end of the table, Sari sat across from her.  
>"You guys really didn't have to ask for permission, have confidence with us and sit where ever you want, it's not like we're snobs and we're gonna shun you," stated Temari.<br>"She's right we should not have fear amongst ourselves, we should feel secure and think of each other as sisters," said Sakura.  
>"Thank you Sakura-chan and Temari-senpai,"said Matsuri as her lips curved into a smile.<br>"Why are you thanking us we are just stating the truth. You can also stop addressing me so formally Temari-chan is good enough for me," said Temari as she picked up some food with her chopsticks and placed it in her mouth.  
>"Oh, okay," replied Matsuri.<br>"So Temari-chan is it okay if you a question?"asked Sari.  
>"Sure,"said Temari with a shrug.<br>"Since this morning Matsuri and I couldn't stop thinking about what you told us, yet we couldn't quite understand why you prefer that your brothers date Suna girls amongst all others," said Sari.  
>"I kinda thought the reason was obvious but I guess not so I'll tell you," Temari said as she put down her chopsticks and inhaled. "The explanation to why I want Suna girls for my brothers is that I want them to have someone that already knows how hard life is in Sunagakure. I honestly believe that after my brothers finish their studies, they will most definitely want to return home. I have a strong feeling that one of them sooner or later will follow in my fathers footsteps and become the next Kazekage and even if they don't they will still be powerful men of Suna. Eventually they will want to start a family and they can't really do that with out the right women. A Suna native will be a perfect wife for them they will already know how to endure the life in the desert; A life with never ending heat, sand and sun and let's not forget constant sandstorms. I think that a women that is able to undergo those circumstances is the proper one that I trust to never leaving my brother's side."<br>The two Suna girls sat silently.  
>"Wow, your reason is much deeper then I initially thought," said Ino.<br>"I at first thought that you preferred Suna girls because of your sense of nationalism but after hearing your explanation a can see it's really because you are worried about your brothers' well-being. You must really love your brothers to have those expectations for them," added Tenten.  
>Temari began to blush. "Of course I love them, they are my brothers after all. Now let's drop this subject and start eating." said Temari leaning her face closer to her box to hide her embarrassment.<br>Sari and Matsuri both looked at each other and smiled. The rest of the girls listened to Temari and began eating. The Suna girls followed there example.  
>As Matsuri picked up her food with her chopsticks and was about to take the first bite, a soccer ball came flying out of nowhere and ended up hitting her tray and hurled her lunch everywhere. Matsuri was hit completely by surprise and didn't know how to react.<br>"Watch it!" shouted Sakura with anger as she stood up and looked at the perpetrators.  
>"Hey chick, mind tossing us our ball," said the guy who seemed to be the leader of the three culprits.<br>'Mind? Of Course I mind!' shouted inner Sakura. "Oh, you want this?" asked Sakura picking up the ball.  
>"Yeah?"replied the three boys.<br>"Okay, then go get it! Cha!" Sakura stated as she kicked it into the distance with all her might.  
>"You witch," said the leader as he followed the ball with his eyes.<br>"What did you say?" asked Sakura even more furious as she stomped her way to them.  
>"Nothing," they said with a frightened tone as they ran away.<br>"You better run punks!" said Sakura heading back to her seat. When she got to the table she was calm again and with a sweet voice she asked: "Matsuri-chan are you okay?"  
>"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine, but unfortunately my lunch isn't," replied Matsuri.<br>"Here have some of mine," offered not just Sakura but the rest of the girls also as they handed her their lunch.  
>"Ah, thank you," said Matsuri grinning. "You're all too kind for sharing your meals with me."<br>"Not at all,"said Temari. "It's not like we were gonna let you starve, now go ahead and pick what you like." Temari push her tray more towards Matsuri.  
>"Okay," said Matsuri as she grabbed a piece of meat with the chopsticks in her shaking right hand.<br>Temari began to look around she then announced: "Hey, do you guys know what I just realized and remembered? I just noticed that the snobs aren't here because they have to serve detention."  
>"No wonder it's quiet," said Ino.<br>"I feel sorry for them, I would never want to serve detention especially when you know that you have to serve it under the surveillance of the creepy Orochimaru," added Tenten.  
>"I feel bad too, there is just something about that man that runs shivers down my spine," said Sakura.<p>

**Meanwhile in Detention:**  
>The four girls all sat together facing each other in the furthest corner from the front of the room, where Orochimaru sat behind his desk observing them.<br>"We don't deserve this punishment," complained Shion in a whisper. " You know we wouldn't be in this mess if someone didn't forget to sense for Kakashi-sensei's chakra before entering the room."  
>"Don't blame this all on me Shion, how was I suppose to know? Also if I recall correctly can't you foresee visions of the future?" returned Karin.<br>"Yes that is true but well um..." said Shion her face red. "My visions are very hard things to understand and they come out foggy sometimes."  
>"Stop blaming each other, you two it's not gonna get us out of here,"said Tayuya.<br>"You're right, but I still think we shouldn't be in here in the first place, but rather outside admiring our handsome men," said Shion. "For example my Naruto-kun."  
>"Sasuke-kun," said Karin with a sigh.<br>"Shikamaru-kun," said both Tayuya and Kin.  
>"Hey, I thought we agreed that Shikamaru was mine," said Tayuya.<br>"Not at all. Why does a hag like you deserve him?"said Kin up in Tayuya's face.  
>"Hag? Like you're one to talk," replied Tayuya her hands on her hips.<br>"Girls, girls, calm down he's nothing to fight over he's not even that attractive," said Shion.  
>"Humpf," said both Kin and Tayuya turning away from each other.<br>"Now ladies what are you chattering about back there?" asked Orochimaru with a slither. "It's not like I really care though." He said as he combed his hair through his fingers.  
>All the girls turned to look at him, but not one of them could even move their lips to speak.<br>"So no answer ay?" Orochimaru said turning his head sideways. "What to do? What to do?" He patted his index finger on his chin. "Oh I know," he said with a smirk. "Why don't you ladies come sit closer to the front where I can keep a better eye on you." His tongue stuck out and it made it's way across his pale lips.  
>The girl got shivers at the sight, they then gulped and said: "Yes, Sir." as they headed to the first row of seats. Their way of walking wasn't natural it was if the were being pulled against there will with some sort of hypnosis.<p>

**Back Outside:**  
>"So do you guys remember back in first period when I accused Kakashi-sensei of having a girlfriend?" asked Ino.<br>"Yeah, what about it?" asked Tenten.  
>"Well, I think my hypothesis was correct because when I told him that I thought I detected a hint of blush in his face. I know you don't like me gossiping or spreading rumors Sakura but I am almost 100% sure this time." said Ino with a cocky smile.<br>"Okay, Miss 100% sure, what are your conclusions?" asked Temari.  
>"I was about to get to that right now. So with the help of my woman's intuition I have narrowed down the possibilities of Kakashi-sensei's girlfriends to three women," said Ino lifting up three fingers. "First off is Shizune the secretary, second is Anko the cheerleader coach and last, but not least Ayame the lunch lady."<br>"Those all are very plausible suppositions, yet I think your leaving out someone," said Sakura.  
>"I thought you didn't like this sort of things Sakura,"said Ino with a laugh.<br>Sakura's face turned blood red. "I still don't like it," said Sakura turning her face away.  
>"So, who did I forget?" asked Ino.<br>"Hanare the music teacher," said Sakura softly.  
>"You're absolutely right Sakura how did she complete go over my head?" Ino asked herself. "So who do you guys think it is?"<br>'I really don't think it's Anko because I've seen her flirting with Zabuza the Kendo Club director various times,' thought Temari.  
>"There's really no telling with Kakashi-sensei he's so mysterious that we don't even know what his face looks likes," said Tenten lifting her shoulders in a shrug.<br>"Yeah, I guess there's no way to really find out," replied Ino.

_  
>Temari began to stretch. "Man I'm full," Temari said as she pushed her tray away from her.<br>"I can't eat another bite either,"said Tenten.  
>"Me neither," stated the other girls.<br>"So what are we going to do with all this leftover food? Throwing it away would be such a waste," asked Sakura.  
>"I have an idea," said Hinata with her soft voice. All the girls turned to look at her. "How about we pile it up and give it to Kiba-kun."<br>"I know Kiba's like a dog, but will he really eat this?" said Ino.  
>Hinata laughed. "It's not for Kiba-kun to eat but for Akamaru," stated Hinata.<br>"Oh, that makes more sense," replied Ino.  
>All the girls then put all the extra food in a napkin and wrapped it up.<br>Hinata began to look around. "I don't see Kiba-kun anywhere right now so he probably already left to walk Akamaru," said Hinata. "So I'll give it to him in class."  
>Sakura stood up all of a sudden. "So back for more?" she said grinding her teeth and clenching her fist.<br>"Huh?" said the other girls puzzled.  
>"It's that soccer ball again," answered Sakura. All the girls looked around to search for it and they spotted it. The ball was in midair heading right towards them.<br>'How can she sense it from so far away?' thought Sari and Matsuri.  
>"Let me take care of it this time Sakura-chan," said Tenten as she quickly lifted herself up from her seat and stood on the table.<br>"Okay, but make sure to get it as far away from us as you can," said Sakura sitting back down.  
>"Will do," replied Tenten. The ball was now only inches away, it almost seemed to be floating at the point that Tenten made her move. Tenten pulled back her right arm as far as she could with her fist held tight, she then pushed forward her arm with eminence force striking the ball with a warriors call and all her might. The ball once again went fling into the distance.<br>"Nice job!"said Sakura lifting up her hand.  
>"Thanks," said Tenten blowing her fist as she got off the table, she then gave Sakura's raised hand a high-five.<br>'I really hope that ball doesn't end up hitting someone on the head,' thought Hinata with a worried look on her face.  
>"Since it seems there is nothing else to do here, How about we stroll around the school campus before class starts?" suggested Temari.<br>They all agreed to her proposition. Everybody grabbed there belongings and left the small table to walk aimlessly around the enormous building.

**End of Girls' Version.**


	22. Closer 3:3 p:2

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH.3.3:Closer II<strong>

**A Typical Lunchtime at Konoha Academy (Guys' Version):**  
>"Move over Kiba you stole my spot," shouted Naruto from behind him.<br>"It's not your spot Naruto, it's not like it has you name on it or something," replied Kiba.  
>"As a matter of fact it does, but you can't see it because your big fat ass is on it," answered Naruto.<br>"I don't have a fat ass and there is no way your name is on it," as he stood up to prove him wrong. Kiba looked down and Naruto's name was clearly printed. "Oh, your name is here. Okay you win this time Naruto, but you won't be so lucky next time."  
>"Just shut your trap and hurry up and move," said Naruto. Kiba because of his dog like nature did what he was told and went to sit next to Shino who was on the other side of the table. "Thank you." Naruto sat down in his spot which was in between Sasuke and Sai.<br>"I thought I finally got rid of you for once," said Sasuke looking away from Neji to (who he sat next to and was conversing with) glimpsing over at Naruto.  
>"Nope and it's never gonna happen, besides this spot is in the center of all my best buds," said Naruto. "So is face all better now Sai?"<br>"Yes, thanks to Ino-chan,"replied Sai with a fake smile.  
>"What happened to Sai's face?" asked Shikamaru on the other side of Sai.<br>"Let's just say Sakura-chan," answered Naruto.  
>"Figures," replied Shikamaru.<br>Choji then arrived at the table. "Make some room boys, here I come," announced Choji with a tray overflowing with food.  
>'Oh dear,' thought all the guys on that side of the table. When Choji sat down all the boys slid down a spot making the guy on the other end fall on the ground.<br>"Sorry about that I didn't mean to push you guys around," said Choji with a laugh as he scooted over to make room. The guy that fell stood up, patted himself and sat back down a little frustrated.

Naruto had just opened his lunchbox. "No! Why?" exclaimed Naruto. Everybody turned to look at him.  
>"What are you crying about now Dobe?" asked Sasuke.<br>"Ma*sniff*No*sniff*Pa*sniff*Ramen," muttered Naruto with tears running down his cheeks, he held a note in one hand and pointed at it with his other.  
>"Speak clearly I can't understand you gibberish," stated Sasuke. 'The note will probably tell me what's going on,' thought Sasuke. Sasuke then swiped the note from Naruto saying: "Gimme that!"<p>

**The note read:**

_Enough's enough Sweetie !  
>I know you LOVE Ramen but too much is not good for your health. So I replaced that junk with one of my delicious and nutritious home cooked meals. I kept it under strict surveillance just to make sure your father didn't swap it with Ramen AGAIN and ate it himself. I know you might feel sad or angry at this moment, but it's for you own GOOD! PLEASE eat it I assure you, you will like it because I especially made it for you with all my motherly LOVE. If you don't wanna eat it just think about all the starving children that would ADORE to have this FABULOUS meal (So it better be EATEN or I'll KILL you). Remember Mommy LOVES you very much!<br>xoXOXox  
>P.s: Flip over to read what your father has to say.<span>_

Sasuke flipped it.

**The other side read:**  
><em><span>My son your mother is ABSOULUTLY correct. Naruto I have tell you that my days of swapping your lunch are over. I only stole your real lunch because I LOVE your mother's cooking. So please listen to your mother son and accept this delectable meal (which I wish to be savoring for myself).<br>Truly your # 1 dad!_

'That's definitely Mrs. Uzumaki and Mr. Namikaze,' thought Sasuke. "So what Naruto. Your mom packed you a healthy lunch instead of Ramen it's not like your gonna die," stated Sasuke.  
>"But I am," said Naruto with his head on the table. Sasuke let go of the note and it fluttered right on to Naruto's face.<br>"If you want Ramen so badly then why don't you go buy some?" suggested Sasuke.  
>"I don't have any money!" cried Naruto.<br>"You know very well that no one at this table is going to lean you money so just be quiet and enjoy your lunch," said Sasuke. Sasuke then opened his own lunch, but quickly closed it again. "Damn!" he said under his breath.  
>"What's wrong?" asked Naruto lifting up his head.<br>"Nothing, none of your business," replied Sasuke.  
>"Did mommy not pack your lunch?" taunted Naruto.<br>"Shut up! That's not it at all," answered Sasuke.  
>"What is it then?" questioned Naruto.<br>"I accidentally grabbed Itachi's lunch instead of mine," he said quietly.  
>"What's the big deal isn't it the same thing?" asked Naruto.<br>"Not exactly. You know how me and Itachi-nii have different preferences? Well, our food choice is very distinct, and that's the problem," said Sasuke opening the box to show Naruto. "Itachi's got a sweeter tooth then I do."  
>Naruto began to drool. 'Mouthwatering sweets and made by the best cook ever Mrs. Uchiha,' thought Naruto. "Hey Teme, I have a proposition for you. I can clearly see that you don't want your lunch and neither do I, so how about we-" Naruto got interrupted.<br>"No, not a chance," said Sasuke rashly.  
>"You didn't even let me finish," complained Naruto.<br>"I know exactly what you want. You want me to trade lunches with you and my answer is no!" said Sasuke.  
>"Why not?" asked Naruto.<br>"Because I'm waiting for Itachi-nii-san to come from where he is right now to give me my lunch," replied Sasuke. At that moment his pocket vibrated it was his phone. He opened it to read the text he had just received.  
><strong>The Message Read:<strong>

From: The Weasel (Itachi)  
><em>Hey little bro how's it going? I have to tell you something, I accidentally got your lunch...the thing is...I didn't notice until I finish it and read the note ^-^; ha-ha. I am truly sorry about that! It's okay if you eat my lunch to make up for yours .<br>(^/.|^) Weasel out!_

'He ate my lunch already! Thanks a lot Itachi!' thought Sasuke. "Here have it before I change my mind," said Sasuke handing Naruto his box.  
>"Thanks," said Naruto grabbing it and slid his lunch to Sasuke.<br>Sasuke opened the box and thought: 'Yum, Mrs. Uzumaki's home cooking.'  
>Naruto rubbed his hands together. 'Yes, I will finally get to sink my teeth into some delicious treats,' thought Naruto just as he was going to take the first bite. He was only millimeters away, his tongue could almost savor it when all of a sudden something hit him on the side of the head. He moved his hand to feel the object that had struck him and was still stuck on his face. The object was solid, squishy and wet, it was food that made Naruto angry. "Who threw this at me?" asked Naruto as he wiped it off his face. "It was you Kiba wasn't it?" Naruto then threw the food he got off his face in Kiba's direction, but it accidentally ended up hitting Shino instead.<br>"It wasn't me you idiot!" shouted Kiba. "It's a good thing your lame attack missed me anyway."  
>"Of course it was you Kiba who else would it be? You were the one who was jealous because you couldn't have my seat," replied Naruto.<br>"It may not matter to the both of you that I got hit, but it does matter to me," said Shino.  
>'Oh, great we're gonna get another one of his speeches,' thought both Naruto and Kiba.<br>"I wouldn't let this event go unpunished," said Shino.  
>'What's the worse he can do? Throw big words around? I'm not scared,' thought Naruto.<br>Shino then did the unexpected he chucked a rice ball at Naruto.  
>"Yikes!" said Naruto as he ducked his head in time to dodge it. The rice ball hit Sai.<br>'What am I suppose to do this?' thought Sai as he held the launched rice ball. 'I'll just do what everybody else is doing and throw it back.'  
>The aim was miscalculated once more, this time it hit Kankuro. As Kankuro threw back the back the ball, someone yelled: "Food fight!" Food began to fly and to fling everywhere.<br>Gaara was smart and didn't involve himself in the fight instead he secured himself in his sand dome.  
>"No fair Gaara's completely unaffected because of your ultimate defense," said Kankuro.<br>Gaara did not reply he only enjoyed his lunch peacefully as he observed what occurred outside with his third eye.  
>The fight continued for awhile until Sasuke and Neji simultaneously got hit.<br>"Enough!" they both shouted as they stood up and slammed their hand hard on the table top to get the attention of the others. "Can't we for once eat in peace!"  
>"Now you guys better stop this fight now before the Akatsuki interfere," said Sasuke.<br>"You better instantly clean up this mess you made or we'll all eat our next lunch in detention," said Neji.  
>"It's such a drag, but their right," said Shikamaru.<br>"I'm glad you understand," said Neji.  
>Sasuke and Neji then picked up their lunches and began to walk away.<br>"Hey, where are you guys going?" asked Naruto.  
>"Somewhere where we can eat our lunch it peace," said Neji without turning his head.<br>"Is there a problem with that, Dobe?" stated Sasuke as he turned his head just enough to where Naruto could see his glaring eye.  
>"No," gulped Naruto.<br>"Very good then we'll leave," said Neji walking further away Sasuke along with him.  
>"Those two really have a stick shoved up their butt," said Naruto with one hand perpendicular to his cheek.<br>"What did you say?" asked the two demon like figures behind him.  
>'I sure opened my big mouth this time,' thought Naruto. Naruto turned around and began to wave his hands back and forth. "I was just kidding you guys!"<br>"It wasn't a very funny joke,"said Neji.  
>Sasuke and Neji then began to whispered to each other and after a moment they grabbed a hold of Naruto and began to drag him away.<br>"Wait guys where are you taking me?" asked Naruto they did not respond. 'Great I didn't even get a bite of my lunch and now I'm gonna get killed by these two psychos,' thought Naruto with tears once again running down his cheeks.  
>"This is good enough," said Sasuke in the middle of the soccer field.<br>"Confirmed," replied Neji.  
>"What are you gonna do to me?" asked Naruto.<br>"You'll find out soon enough," stated both Neji and Sasuke as they let go of Naruto which made him fall to the ground.  
>"Get up and you will get what you deserve," said Sasuke.<br>'Surely they are gonna decapitate me with their taijutsu or destroy me with one of their special ninjutsu's or what is worse they're gonna kill me with a combo attack,' thought Naruto. Naruto did as Sasuke commanded and stood up, as he did something came falling from the sky at an eminence speed and it hit him on the head. The impact knocked Naruto unconscious. The object that had knocked him down was a mere soccer ball.  
>Neji and Sasuke gave each other a high five.<br>"Knocked out with only using my Byakugan," said Neji.  
>"And my Sharingan," added Sasuke.<br>Naruto had not noticed that they had used their eye powers to calculate the position of where the ball was going to land.

A group of guys came running. "Hey, dudes can we have our soccer ball back?" asked one of the three.  
>"Sure," said Neji. Sasuke handed Neji his lunch as he went to pick up the ball. Sasuke then let go of the ball and kicked it in the direction of the owners yet the force he put in the ball was to much and it went right pass the three boys.<br>"Not again," complained the group as they ran off.  
>"Thanks a lot," stated the leader sarcastically following his crew.<br>"No wonder you were appointed a the captain of our soccer team," said Neji handing Sasuke his lunch back. "You sent that ball flying without using an ounce of your true strength."  
>Sasuke grab the box and sat down. "I was only chosen to be captain because of my skill and not because of my knowledge of the game like it should be," said Sasuke grabbing the chopsticks.<br>"Well, that's true but your very complete in both anyway," said Neji sitting down next to him.  
>"If it was truly based on skill as a captain I'm sure you would have gotten the position," said Sasuke beginning to eat his meal.<br>"No, you won the rank fair and square I was not able to compete with your ability," stated Neji. "Besides I am better suited to be a basketball captain in any case." Neji also began to eat.  
>"There is no argument there," said Sasuke. "Changing the subject now how long do you think it'll be until he wakes up." Sasuke turned his head over to Naruto.<br>"I'd say a not long, yet that ball did hit him harder than I imagined," said Neji. "But we did use two of the three great optical techniques to pinpoint exactly were we wanted the ball to hit him, so it's not a big surprise that he's still out cold."  
>"Yeah, that's true," replied Sasuke. " Can you imagine the things we could do if we had all three of visual powers? Now that would be the most perfect and unstoppable technique."<br>"Just thinking about it is frightening," said Neji. "But I'm sure that the only known Rinnegan would never use his power along with us after knowing that we torment his cousin with our power."  
>"I guess so," said Sasuke with a chuckle.<p>

_  
>Naruto began to regain conscientiousness. "What happened to me?" Naruto asked himself as he sat up. "Why does my head hurt so much?" Naruto put his hand to his head.<br>Sasuke and Neji turned to look at the at the confused Naruto. "Ah! It's you two," said Naruto pointing at them as his eyes grew big and white.  
>"Yeah, it's us so what?" asked Sasuke.<br>"You did this to me didn't you?" accused Naruto. "You beat me up!"  
>"Actually we didn't even lay a finger on you," replied Neji.<br>"Then what's your explanation for my head hurting so much," said Naruto.  
>"Soccer ball," was all Sasuke said.<br>"You really expect me to believe that a soccer ball did this to me?" asked Naruto as he stood up.  
>"Yeah," replied both Neji and Sasuke.<br>"Well I'll prove that a soccer ball," was all said before a soccer ball once more came out of nowhere and hit him. "Really did hit my head." Naruto collapsed again.  
>Neji and Sasuke smiled at the sight then continued eating the rest of their lunch.<p>

When Naruto finally woke up again Neji and Sasuke were gone. Naruto got up and went back to the lunch table. There was nobody at the table when he got their but to his surprise his lunch still was or so he thought. He flung the lid of box open with excitement, but once he saw inside it, disappointment ran through his face. The box was empty without even a crumb left.  
>'Choji!' thought Naruto. 'I'm sure he was the one that ate it. I saw him eyeballing it earlier.' Naruto stomach then grumbled. "I am starving!" shouted Naruto. "But I guess there is no point sticking around here anymore, since no one's here and class will be starting soon." Naruto began walking toward the building. 'I am sure I can handle my hunger til the end of school.' thought Naruto enthusiastically. Naruto's stomach roared again. "Or maybe I'll just end up dying of hunger," thought Naruto aloud as he clenched his stomach and walked faster hoping that he would make it to class before breaking down.<p>

**End of Boys' Version.**


	23. Closer 3:4 p:1

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens**_**)  
>CH.3.4:Closer I<strong>

As the lunch period came to an ending the halls of high school building began to be flocked with students. They roamed everywhere, some just stood in the hall waiting for their next class while others rushed to retrieve their necessary textbooks form the furthest hall from their next period classroom. No one wished to be late to a class after the lunch period, for they knew that the teachers had most-likely already lost their patience for the day and would punish those who stepped out of line much more harsher than those did in the morning classes.

The group of Konoha and Suna girls which were walking aimlessly throughout the school moments ago, were now walking in the direction of the science class which they all shared. As the girls passed through the long corridor that was located right around the corner from their class; the dark haired girl in the group, who quietly tailing behind the rest, caught a glimpse of something that stunned her from the corner of her lilac-colored eye. The girl departed from the group almost unnoticed and shifted herself in the direction in which the item that caught her attention was located.  
>She approached the object that obscured her and stopped at the foot of it. The girl had both her hands tightly clutching on the sack in front her, she quivered a little as she leaned forward with a slightly tilted head.<br>"Naruto-kun?" she said almost as if she were uncertain of his identity. "Are you O-okay?"  
>Naruto was sitting on the ground with his legs stretched out, his body leaned against the windowed wall behind him and his head was drooping on his chest. With the sound of the voice in front of him Naruto awoke from his slumber. He barely lifted his head and replied with confusion, "Hinata-chan?" When his mind finally realized what had happened, he shook his head then with his widely growing bright blue eyes he gazed at the girl which stood before him. Naruto let out a chuckled, "I really don't how I fell asleep, the last thing I remember was looking out the window, now the next thing I know your calling out my name. Thanks for waking me up Hinata-chan that was really nice of you," Naruto said as he put his palms to the ground and pushed himself up. He did manage to stand up, but only by inclining his body against the wall.<br>"Oh, no it was nothing Naruto-kun," answered Hinata her face warming as she took a step back.  
>"You also asked if I was okay? Well, the answer to that is yes, I guess," stated Naruto with a shrug. "I am a bit tired and sore though. After all I did get hit upside the head by a soccer ball not once but twice during lunch, but I'll survive." Naruto tried to show her a reassuring smile yet it didn't look convincing at all.<br>Hinata wasn't pay attention to his forced smile for she was lost in thought. 'Could it be that? No there's no way, or is there? It's probably just a coincidence. Both Sakura's and Tenten's ball couldn't possibly have hit him or could they?' thought Hinata.  
>"So, Hinata-chan should we head to class or what?" asked Naruto as he straightened his body.<br>"Huh? Oh, yeah," said Hinata as she returned to reality. Hinata quickly turned her face and her body from Naruto's which were now seemingly closer to hers, she did this to avoid something worse than blushing from happening in front of Naruto, for example one of her infamous faints.  
>Naruto being unfamiliar with Hinata's feeling as always, placed one of his hand upon the back of her shoulder. "Okay than let's go,'ttebayo!" he stated as he took a step forward.<br>Hinata was feeling somewhat dizzy from Naruto's close presence. It would seem that surely Hinata would fall back at any moment, but unexpectedly instead of Hinata being the one who collapsed it was Naruto. Naruto's hand slowly slid down Hinata's back as his body descended towards the ground.  
>"Na-Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted in distress as she quickly turned to look at Naruto's bent over body. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"<br>Naruto lifted his head from his crouched body and looked at Hinata with only one eye open. Just as Naruto was going to respond to Hinata's question the sound that emanated from underneath his hands (which were located on his stomach) answered for him with a loud grumbling noise.  
>"I'm fine Hinata-chan, don't worry about me. As you can hear from my stomach, it's a little bit hungry. I didn't get to eat anything at lunch due to my luck and my big mouth. I'm sure I'll be fine in a minute and we can go to class," Naruto said as he lifted himself up. He did mange to stand up tall for a moment until another ringing roar came from his stomach bringing him down again. "Who am a kidding! I am starving! I would be willing to eat anything right now!" Naruto let himself fall to the floor this time by slowly sliding his back against the wall. Naruto than began to sniff like everyone does when they cry, but as he did so he began to smell something scrumptious. He keep sniffing to try to find out where this delectable sent was emitting.<br>Hinata as always wasn't quite sure how to console Naruto, but then as a strike of lightning a brilliant idea hit her. "If your hungry-" began Hinata in a soft voice before she was discontinued by Naruto who had not even heard her speaking.  
>"Hey, Hinata-chan what to you have in this sack in front of you?" He asked as he sat up and pointed at it with his nose.<br>"Oh, this," said Hinata lifting up the sack in one hand and pointing at it with the other. "It's nothing really just everyone's scraps from lunch-"  
>"You mean leftovers, right?" said Naruto interrupting Hinata again. "Hinata-chan would you mind if I had them?" Naruto begged with puppy dog eyes.<br>"...Ah...Uh...mind? N-no not at all," stated Hinata. With that said Naruto quickly snatched the sack and began to unwrap it and fill his mouth with its contents.  
>'Where are my manners I forgot to say something,' thought Naruto. "Thank you very much Hinata-chan!" he said with his mouth full.<br>"You're welcome, I guess?" replied Hinata. 'Poor Naruto-kun you really were starving,' thought Hinata as she saw him gobbling up the food. 'Yet giving him our leftovers wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I was thinking something more like giving him money so that get something from one of the vending machines, but I can see he's enjoying this just as well.'

"Delicious," he said liking his lips as he finished. Naruto then cleaned his face with the clean side of he napkin. After the meal he just ate he was so full of energy he even had some to spare. He quickly jumped to his feet and put both hands behind his head. "Even if they were leftovers."  
>"It's maybe cause they weren't just my scraps of food they also belonged to: Sakura, Ino, Matsuri, Sari, Temari and Tenten-chan," suggested Hinata.<br>'Wow! I just a meal form several wealthy houses in just one sitting. I truly am a lucky guy,' thought Naruto.  
>A bell rang which echoed in the strangely empty hall which Naruto and Hinata stood in.<br>"That was just the first bell right?" asked Naruto a bit tense.  
>"Yes," answered Hinata.<br>"Good," Naruto exhaled a breath of air. "We should really hurry to class now, we definitely don't want to be late," he said as he grabbed Hinata by the wrist and began pulling her along side him as he walked away. Naruto looked back at Hinata as he walked. "Even if it's just old Lady Chiyo's class. We never know what she could do to us." Naruto turned his head from her and began quickening his steps.  
>Hinata face did not turn bright red this time but more like a purple color. 'Naruto-kun's grabbing my arm, I feel weak, however I can't faint now that would be too embarrassing. Hinata it's time for you to be strong,' thought Hinata as her head spun so hard it was almost being reflected in her eyes.<p>

When Naruto arrived to the classroom accompanied by Hinata the others were not the least bit surprised by how ignorant he was of her sensitivity. Some smiled as they shook their heads while others thought to themselves 'Naruto you're such an idiot!'  
>Naruto let go of Hinata and went to his usual spot without saying another word to her, Hinata did the same. Both their seats were near their friends and far from each other. Also in this classroom stood the invisible wall which split the class into two with a symmetrical vertical line.<br>Lady Chiyo's classroom was enormous. It was covered with plant and animal samples along with chemical formulas, for the subject she teaches is biology as well as that of chemistry. There were tall bulky desks everywhere but mostly in the center of the room, the desks served as lab stations for the various experiments which where preformed in the class. The desks faced toward the front of the room where all the long lectures took place; these desks were originally meant for only two people but the students would snatch a stool from another table to be able to sit next to their champions.

When the bell rang for class to begin Lady Chiyo was nowhere in sight. With Lady Chiyo you never really knew what was going to occur, and that's exactly what happened next. Lady Chiyo all of a sudden popped out from behind her desk with a snicker, yet her students where no longer surprised by her shenanigans.  
>Lady Chiyo was a small old woman with silver hair, wrinkled skin, and big dark brown eyes. Chiyo could have seemed like a strict and serious character at times, but most of the time she was kind, funny, playful, and a troublemaker. She was currently the chemistry and biology teacher at Konoha Academy, but before that she was well known for her medicine work and founding the puppet corps in Suna. The puppet corps which she led for many years started fade after the war, yet it still exists today even if it doesn't serve the same purpose it once did; Chiyo retired as the head of the organization a few years back and gave the name and position to grandson, Sasori.<p>

Ten years ago Chiyo moved to Konohagakure with her grandson in order to have simpler life style and to try get rid of the sad, painful, and lonely memories that lingered in Suna.  
>"Good afternoon class," proclaimed Lady Chiyo.<br>"Good afternoon Chiyo-baa-sama," replied the class.  
>"I can't believe it's this period already," said Chiyo. "So, class I have some good news and some bad news to tell you. Which one do you want to hear first?"<br>"The good," stated half the class. "The bad," said the others.  
>"Okay, since it's undecided I'll state the news randomly and without telling you if it's the good or bad one," reasoned Chiyo. "News number one, you're all getting a new seating chart."<br>"Seating chart?" they all groaned.  
>"You may be asking yourselves 'why is she doing this?' but the answer is quite simple. I just don't like where you are seated now." stated the old woman. " As you all can recall I didn't choose your seats at the beginning of the school year <em>you<em> did. I let that happen for a number of reasons but for the most part it was just a little experiment I was conducting. This is a chemistry and biology class by the way so, I do like to study and experiment with my lively pupils."  
>I am not just moving you because you are sitting by you friends even though that's the main reason. I really don't mind you being with your friends, it's just that you interact with them more than you work. I also don't like that your so confined because of being amongst your peers. Just look at yourselves, you are the most gender distanced class I've had in all my years of teaching, all the girls to the right and all the boys to the left, what are you people so afraid of? Catching cooties? Whatever it is I have to remind you this is no longer kindergarten." At that statement the faces of the students turned red.<br>Another reason of your separation is that you don't follow instructions. For example, when I explicitly ask all of you not touch the chemicals at your lab stations and one of you ignores me i_*cough*/i_ Naruto i_*cough*/i_ and creates a stink bomb by accident." When Chiyo coughed Naruto's name, almost all the other students turned to look at him with evil eyes. Naruto just hesitantly chuckled. "My mind is set on changing your seating arrangement and we don't want to go into more detail of why because it would just use up all our class time. So without further adieu would you all please stand up and come to the front so I can rearrange you." The class did as she commanded. The students surrounded her in two groups girls to her right and boys to her left (just like she had stated in her lecture). Chiyo pulled out two scrolls one from underneath each of her long sleeves, once all of her students gathered around her. She held up the scrolls to where everyone could see the big bold letters in her right hand which read "Girls" and ones on her left which said "Boys".  
>"Okay, the instructions I'm about to give you are quite simple. In these two scrolls I have written your names and a number along side it. All you have to do is read the number (one at a time) and go to the same numbered table, the the numbers are posted on the front of the desk. Do not tell anyone your number I want it to be a secret until get to your new spot, is that clear? " asked Lady Chiyo. Everyone nodded their head in comprehension."I will tell you now class, the seats you been assigned to are permanent, there is no changing them no matter what. Even if I paired you up with you archenemy from preschool there is no trading period."<br>Oh, and before I forget I should tell you the other news. Because of the circumstances and the activities we are going to preform today you won't have any homework!"  
>'So that's the good news?' thought everybody. 'Or maybe in her mind it's the other way around.'<br>Lady Chiyo laughed at the expression on everyone's face. She then open the scrolls at the same time; the students began to read off their numbers and went to their new seats with out saying a word as ordered.

**To be Continued... **


	24. Closer 3:4 p:2

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH.3.4:Closer II<strong>

Lady Chiyo amused herself with the chaos and confusion she had created. She enjoyed seeing the look on her students faces as they frantically searched for their seats.  
>The students knowing Lady Chiyo, weren't quite sure what to anticipate of her little experiment, but they did had some sort of idea of the outcome in mind. They all asked themselves, 'I wonder who my partner is going to be?' as they all searched for their corresponding number.<br>As the students all found their new spots, they got a bit stunned at who ended up sitting besides them. Some of the class groaned, while others were content with who they got placed with.  
>In the new seating arrangement each table contained one guy for every girl and the reverse situation. Students looked around to see if there was some sort of mistake in their placement, but of course there wasn't. Now it started to make sense to them why they couldn't seem to find any matching numbers on their scroll.<p>

"Okay class now I will take roll," announced Chiyo. "You know, just to make sure you're in the correct spots." Chiyo gave a quick wink with her right eye. Those words made the students lose hope of ever trying to switch their seats.  
>"Let's see," said Chiyo taking out her glasses and put them on to look at her chart. " Table #1 should be Sakura and Sasuke. Check." Lady Chiyo put a mark next to their names and continued. "Following them should be Naruto and Hinata, then Ino and Sai, Neji and Tenten, Temari and Shikamaru, next is Gaara and Matsuri, Sari and Kankuro, Suigetsu and Karin..." She continued to list off various names. "... Almost done," Chiyo said as she took a breath. "Karui and Kiba, and last but not least- Yes?" Lady Chiyo said answering to the raised hand.<br>In the back end corner desk of the classroom sat a boy who seemed to be unnoticed by everyone. He had been raising his hand for a long time and he finally just got called on. What was it about this boy that made him so invisible? Was it his dark shades, or that he always hid behind a hood, or maybe everyone sensed a dark aura around him, whatever it was it seemed to keep everyone oblivious of his existence.  
>" I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I have to point out that I'm the only one without a partner."said the boy putting down his hand.<br>"I was already aware of your situation and I have also found a solution for you, Shino," replied Chiyo.  
>"You have?" asked Shino bewildered.<br>"Yes, I made my new list so perfect to where everybody would have a partner including you," answered Lady Chiyo.  
>"Really, then who is my partner? There is no one else I can think of that is in this class that doesn't have a partner. " said Shino. 'If, her list really is so perfect than where is my partner? Wait, could it be that she planning to make herself my new partner?' thought Shino anxiously.<br>"So impatient to know," Chiyo said shaking her head. "Well, lad your are exactly right, there aren't anymore classmates to pair you up with. Yet I did find you a partner, even though she isn't officially a student of this class any longer because your partner is none other than my... lovely and wonderful T.A."  
>"Your T.A?" whispered Shino at the same time he let out a breath of air. His face warmed, he had totally forgotten about the T.A. He turned his head to look to the back of the room where the girl he had forgotten was located. How could he have remembered she even existed, if all the time she was buried in stacks of paper or studying without saying a peep the entire class period. For a first their was someone more forgotten than Shino.<p>

"Come now, sit by your partner," Lady Chiyo spoke to the girl at the back of the room who once again was stacked with papers.  
>"But Ma'am I still have to correct all these papers," replied the girl standing up, she pointed out the papers with her opened palms.<br>"I thought we made a deal," remarked Chiyo.  
>"Yes, but-" said the girl getting cut off.<br>"No buts Missy, a deal's a deal so please go sit with the boy, and beside I don't need those papers done by today," explained Lady Chiyo with a wicked smile.  
>"Yes Ma'am," said the the girl maneuvering her way around the large table she sat at to her new spot. Her walk had somewhat of an unwilling pace to it. 'And I thought last year was my last as a student of this two year class,' thought the girl to herself. 'How did I get myself involved in this mess, again? Oh, yeah...'<p>

**Before Class (During Lunch):**  
>A girl with slightly tanned skin, a ponytail, and very noticeable red fangs imprinted on each of her cheeks; opened the door into Lady Chiyo's classroom with a stack of books in one hand and on top of them her lunch. She glanced over at the desk at the front of the room as she walked in.<br>"Good afternoon Lady Chiyo," she greeted.  
>"Good afternoon indeed Hana, but isn't a bit early for you to be here?" asked the old woman looking up from the scrolls that she had on her desk.<br>"I guess, but I really needed to find a nice and peaceful place to sit down and study," answered the Inuzuka girl.  
>"Working hard as always, I see," commented Chiyo.<br>"Yes, truly I can't behind even once. I have to focus solely on graduation and preparing to enter college next year," replied Hana. She then placed her belongings on one of the front row desks. "But that's enough about me. What have you been up to Sensei?"  
>"Nothing too out of the ordinary, just making a new seating chart for the next class period,"stated Lady Chiyo staring at the scrolls.<br>"A seating chart?" repeated Hana as she walked up to the old lady's desk. "Why the decision all of a sudden? Is this because of the stick bomb incident last Friday?"  
>"Yes and no," answered the aged woman with a sigh. "Hana, I've lost all my patience with this years students. Have you seen that class? They are just so..."<br>"Distant," Hana said finishing the sentence.  
>"Precisely! That really irritates me, because I've never had a class that has acted like this in all my years of teaching!" stated Chiyo with slight anger in her tone."That's why I feel I have to something to fill the gap these kids have created, before it's to late."<br>The two women remained silent for a brief moment.  
>"So..." began Hana hesitantly. "Which girl did you pair up my brother with?"<br>"What make's you think it's a girl?" inquired Lady Chiyo.  
>"Well, various things," answered the girl without hesitation. "First off the reason for the seating chart is to bring the two distanced genders together, right? If that is so, then that would explain why you are making two lists instead of one and why there are numbers in the front of all the desks."<br>"So you've noticed that much, very good deducting skills Hana," complimented Chiyo.  
>"It wasn't that hard to figure out," Hana boasted." Yet it was extremely easy to figure out your plan since I am able to read your plans for the day from where I'm standing," Hana pointed out with a giggle in her tone.<br>Lady Chiyo quickly turned to her lesson plan journal. She then picked it up and stuffed it in her drawer.  
>"Very cunning indeed, Hana," acknowledge the elderly dame. "Now, going back to your initial question, why is it that you want to know who your little brother ended up? Could it be that my little Hana is a jealous big sister?" teased Chiyo.<br>Hana's face reddened at the comment. She would not let the old woman see her crimson colored face so she turned it to look out the window.  
>"That's not it at all!" she lied. "I just wanted to know if Kiba was going to get along with the girl or not."<br>"'Kay if you say so," chuckled Chiyo. "I paired your brother up with one of the transfer Kumo girls."  
>"Which one the blonde of the redhead?" asked Hana turning back her face.<br>"The redhead, Karui," answered Chiyo with a smile.  
>'Good at least Kiba won't be staring at a pair of breasts the entire period,' thought Hana. "Oh, Karui you say, I've spoken to her a few times she seems like a really nice girl. Not to mention she's pretty too. I really admire her golden eyes," stated Hana to Chiyo.<br>"Sounds like your satisfied with my choice," responded Chiyo.  
>"I guess I am," replied Hana with a smile. "I should stop disturbing you now and go eat my lunch and study." Hana rotated her body 180 degrees and began walking to where she left her belongings.<br>"Wait a minute Hana, before you do that there's a matter I want to discuss with you," announced Lady Chiyo.  
>"Matter?" stated Hana confused. Hana turned her body back around.<br>"Well, Hana I seem to be in a bit of a predicament. I thought I made my chart perfectly, but then I noticed I left out a certain variable from the equation. I seem to have surplus males and I thought maybe you could help me out with it," explain the dame.  
>"But Lady Chiyo I'm no longer a student of this class," said Hana. "And I really don't to take it all over again."<br>"I was afraid you would say that, but I have no one else to turn to and I can't leave that poor lad to work by himself," Chiyo said. "You wouldn't have to do much, but the labs and of course your help wouldn't go unpaid I'll pull some strings to make this class be worth two credits instead of one."  
>"I don't know," said Hana unconvinced."It's sounds like a nice offer, but I really don't need it." Hana began to turn around.<br>'What can I do to convince this girl?Wait a minute I got it!' thought Chiyo. "It's to bad you don't want it. On top of the credits I was also willing to give an intriguing recommendation to one of my friends at that veterinary school your always talking about."  
>Hana paused. 'Why is she doing this to me? I would be I really big idiot if I let that opportunity go,' thought Hana as she let out a whimpering sigh. "Where do I have to sign?" she asked in a dead tone.<br>"Good! So you except my proposal then?" asked the olden lady.  
>"Who's my partner?" answered Hana with another question.<br>"Oh, your partner is none other than..."

'...Shino. He's not bad for a partner I guess,' thought Hana sitting down next to him. 'He doesn't seem to talk much, I know him a little because of Kiba, and now that I get a closer look at him he's actually kinda cute.'  
>"Now to finish roll call. Shino and Hana, check," announced Chiyo. "Okay now that that's over with, we can start with today's activity."<br>The old woman put her list down on her desk and walked to the chalkboard behind her.  
>"We are going to play a little game today it's called: Bonds. The rules are quite simple, all you need to do is thoroughly introduce yourselves to your partner. I know what thinking 'Lady Chiyo we already know each other. Why do we have to a stupid thing like this anyway?' My real concern is do you really now them as well as you think you do? "<br>So to figure out how much you really know them, you are going to interview them. I know that sounds a bit boring, so to avoid the boredom from happening all of you are going to pretend this is the first time you've met."  
>The process should start like any other meeting, first you greet the person then share personal information about each other by asking questions. Your personal information could be things like your family, dreams, things you like and dislike, et cetera. That's all the instruction I really need to give you, you can preform the rest anyway you wish. One more thing this activity should last until the end of the period. Are all the steps understood?" asked Chiyo as she finished writing the procedure on the board for those visual learners (andor people that weren't paying attention).  
>"Yes," replied the class along with a nod.<br>"Okay, then begin!" proclaimed Lady Chiyo with enthusiasm. She then went to make her self comfortable at her desk. She wanted to get the perfect angle on the entertainment she had created for herself. A hint of wonder appeared in her mind as she asked herself how this game was going to end and if it was going to backfire. Yet the mystery of finding out made her grin from the bottom of her heart.

There was something odd about the old frail woman: Lady Chiyo. It was as if she was an all knowing being and pulled the strings of fate with her own hands. She was all knowing for she knew more about her students than even they knew themselves. To some extent she didn't comprehend how she was able to understand the children so well, it was no more than mere intuition. Yet, in truth she did like elaborating master plans that involved manipulating others. Especially those games where she set up the pieces and waited for them to fall into place on their own after giving them a slight push in the right direct, setting off the unstoppable chain reaction.

**End of part 3.4.**


	25. Closer 3:5

**Broken Youth **

_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens) **_

**CH.3.5:Closer**

Placed in the front row, in the desk closest to the door sat a pink haired girl with emerald eyes and boy with charcoal eyes and hair. The two of them sat up straight and looked forward. They not once even glimpsed at each other after they had first sat down. They didn't avoid eye contact because they didn't want to look at each other, but because they were both too afraid to be caught staring by one another. So instead of observing each other they both paid close attention to their teacher's words acting as if what she said was of the utmost importance.

As soon as the teacher finished her speech the pink haired girl unconsciously let out a giggle. The boy beside her turned to look at her with a confused expression on his face.

"Did I miss something?" asked the boy referring to the girl's laugh. His head had a slight tilt to it when he asked.

The boy's question brought the girl out of her daze, she quickly turn her head to face the boy and answer his question. "No, you didn't miss anything. I just caught thinking, that's all." replied the girl.

"About what?" asked the boy curiously.

"Nothing really significant. I just remembered that we didn't actually properly introduce ourselves when we first met, and today we are finally getting the chance to start all over and do it right." started the girl. "And maybe Chiyo-baa-sama's is right, and we'll learn new things about each other … blah ...blah...blah-"

"You talk to much," said the boy without thinking, his elbow was on the desk and his palm was under his chin and jaw. 'Damn, I said something stupid without thinking again,' the boy realized a little to late.

The emerald eyed girl grew quiet.

'Talk to much?' repeated the girl in her mind, the words weighed down on her skull.

'You know he's right Sakura,' thought her inner self.

'That's not helping!' the girl shouted to her other self.

Inner Sakura only snickered with a grin while holding up two fingers in a peace symbol before disappearing in a popped thought bubble.

"Sorry, for bothering you," said Sakura with a nervous giggle.

"There is no need to apologize," responded the dark eyed boy.

Sakura put both her hands on the desk and pushed herself up, as she stood her stool began to slide back.

"So, shall we start the game now?" suggested the girl.

"It's not like we have a choice," replied the boy as he too began to stand up.

"Lighten up, let's try to make this déjà vu experience as fun as possible, okay?" advised Sakura with a smile.

The the boy and girl now stood facing each other. They both stood in that respect not knowing how to begin. The boy had his hands in his pockets, while the girl was tightly clenching to the corners of her skirt.

"I'll start, I guess," stated Sakura breaking the silence. She coughed to clear her throat, which was followed by a long deep breath and sigh.

"I am Sakura Haruno, at your service," she announced both in hesitance and naturally. As she stated her name she took a bow, but instead of a formal bow it was more of a curtsy. She took her curtsy by extending the ends of her skirt and slightly bending one knee. She felt awkward doing her introduction after she realized she was doing the same routine she did when she was working with Tsunade.

'Is this what she meant when she said to have fun with it? Well, this sort of things are more of my brothers tactics, but I'll see what I can come up with. What would stupid Itachi do in a situation like this? Oh. I know..." thought the boy as a smile appeared on his face as an idea struck like a bolt of lightning.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Haruno," stated the young man as he bent down in a gentleman's bow with his right hand across his chest. He slightly bent on his knee and grabbed a hold of Sakura's right hand. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha." Once he finished presenting himself he brought Sakura's hand towards him, and placed his lips on her knuckles(in other words he kissed her hand). There was the echoing sound of gasps and murmurs as he did so.

'That should have been my hand he was kissing,' Karin thought with wrath from across the room.

'I'm happy for you Sakura,' thought Hinata who was stand in the desk right behind her.

"Aw, Why didn't I think of doing something like that?" thought Naruto out loud which made the the girl next to him blush, yet not as much as when he subconsciously placed his arm around her neck in the following second.

Everyone was stunned by Sasuke's out of character behavior, but most of all Sakura. When Sasuke's lips touched her skin, her heart skipped a beat and her mind went blank. She couldn't believe that what was happening to her was real.

'Ha. This isn't Sasuke-kun, I must be totally dreaming. There's no way this is happening to me in real life,' thought Sakura as her mind started to turn back on. 'Yet, it feels so real.' Sakura quickly turned to look at the expressions of her peers, when she saw the jaw expressions she realized that she was in reality. Sakura turned to look at Sasuke, which at that moment lifted his gaze to her and met her eyes. That motion made Sakura's face begin to warm, her body went tense and she quickly avoided eye contact. 'Maybe I'm overreacting about this occurrence. This might as well just be one of the Uchiha customs and I'm blowing it way out of proportion. Whatever it is I shouldn't let Sasuke-kun see how much this is affecting me I must continue to show indifference,' thought Sakura as she slightly turned her head away in such a manner where she could still partially see him.

As soon as Sakura turned away Sasuke's lips began to part from her hand. He figured it was starting to get awkward.

"I'm sorry Miss Haruno if my actions discomforted you in anyway," said Sasuke as he straightened up his body.

"Please don't apologize Uchiha-san," replied Sakura with a downward gaze and a bow of the head.

Sasuke chuckled. "Do you mind if we stop being so formal, now?" He then to a seat while still facing her.

"Not at all Sasuke-kun, thank you," answered Sakura also sitting down.

"Great," stated Sasuke "So what do we do now?"

"Start interviewing each other, I guess" replied Sakura.

"Okay, then I'll ask the first question" stated Sasuke. "Uh...What's your family like?"

"Well, to start off with, my clan is not a big one. I am an only child in my family, yet I do have my cousin Konan who is kinda like a sister. My father is a lawyer at a big corporation while my mom is the head librarian at Konoha Central library." answered Sakura. "What about you Sasuke-kun?"

"Unfortunately, I am the second born son after my brother Itachi. My father is the chief of the police force and head of the Uchiha clan. My Mom is also the coordinator of all the big events within our clan and around the city."

Once again the two teens stayed inaudible for a moment.

"Next question, What is your dream job?" asked Sakura.

"That's easy! I want to be the next Police chief !" Sasuke stated with much enthusiasm. "What about you?"

"Well, any job that involves helping people would suffice me," said Sakura with a smile. "But my dream is to become a great doctor like my two mentors Tsunade-sama and Chiyo-baa-sama."

"Why is that your dream?" asked Sasuke interrogatively.

"Well there is only one thing I truly hate, and that is being a useless burden to everyone. I felt so useless prior to starting my medical training. I remember being nothing more than a helpless girl that only got in the way instead of helping. The only thing I skilled at was chakra control and that alone was futile. One day luck finally came my way and I learned that my ineffectual skill could be turned into a rare and precious talent. I knew that it was going to take hard work to convert my ability from something useless into something useful. Still the hard work was worth it because it's turned me in to a stronger person both mentally and physically. It's my dream because I'll be helping myself as well others," answered the girl. "So what about your dream?"

"It's been my desire for a long time to become police chief and have an honorable position in the family, just like my father where I could lead my clan to greatness. Yet, the main reason is to achieve two of my long-term goals which are: 1) Earn my fathers approval and 2) to surpass my brother Itachi."

After the first couple questions the interview ran a little more smoothly. Here's a sample of the questions they asked:

"What do you do in your spare time?"

"What's your favorite dish?"

"What's your favorite color?"

… the list continues...

_ "What's your favorite fruit? Let me guess is the cherry?" asked Sasuke.

"Nope, but you're close Strawberries are my number one followed by cherries," answered Sakura.

'Damn, wrong again,' thought Sasuke. Sasuke had been guessing Sakura's answers and so far he's been wrong. An example of one of his mistaken suppositions was that he imagined that Sakura's favorite flower was the cherry blossom when in reality she prefers her birth flower the daffodil.

"What's yours Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura.

"Huh? Oh, Tomato," he responded coming out of his thoughts.

Sakura giggled at his answer.

"Is their something wrong with me answer?" he asked with his hands crossed.

"Oh, not at all, I just find your unique answer amusing. I'm also glad that you correctly consider it a fruit rather than a vegetable," replied Sakura in her know-it-all manner.

Sasuke couldn't help but smile at her response.

...

"What's your favorite subject?" said Sasuke being he's turn in asking the questions once more.

"Kakashi's literature class," the boy and the girl stated simultaneously, echoing each others voices.

"You finally got one right Sasuke-kun," said Sakura in a giggling tone.

_ As they continued to interact their understanding of one another grew more abstract. They were finally starting to get into the game and were actually having fun associating with each other.

"So, what's the thing you dislike the most?" asked the Uchiha boy.

"Well, it use to be Naruto," Sakura said half jokingly.

"Hey, I heard that!" stated the blond boy from behind. Sakura turned to look at the boy and gave him a wink while sticking out her tongue.

"Truthfully though, it's not being able to do absolutely anything." said Sakura returning to her interviewer.

The boy nodded his head in comprehension. "Well, I dislike yet, it's more like what I despise is my brother Itachi," began Sasuke. "because he ends up stealing everything I desire away from me."

"You don't actually mean that? Do you seriously hate your brother?" asked Sakura with much concern in her big green eyes.

"Of course I mean it! If stupid Itachi didn't exist than I could achieve my goal with no trouble."said the young boy with red hot embers burning in his eyes.

"What goal? Your goal of becoming police commander?" asked Sakura.

"Not only that," he said with a downward gaze. "but also gaining my fathers acceptance."

Both Sakura and Sasuke sat quiet for a moment.

Sasuke began to continue. "I've have always worked hard to try to acquire my father's approval, but my hardest isn't hard enough, because Itachi is always one step ahead of me. I didn't always have this resentful feeling towards my big brother, at one point I actually admired him. But, soon I figured out that what I admired wasn't him, but his image as my father's 'perfect son'. That's when I realized that Itachi was my rival, and that I had to surpass him no matter what. Itachi had already obtained what I wanted without even breaking a sweat. He didn't have to strive to prove himself worthy because he is the masterpiece and I'm nothing more than a mere replica. That's why I wish I was like you, an only child, with no siblings to get in my way."

Sakura sat quietly for a instant, processing what Sasuke had told her. Her gaze was down to her lap and both her hands pressed hard against her lap.

"Being alone isn't as great as you think it is," whispered Sakura almost to herself.

"Huh?" Sasuke turned to her confused.

"What I said is that being an only child is nothing more than a nicer term for lonely child," said Sakura. "Sure, you make friends that are almost like family, but the bond will never be close to the same as that of a real sibling."

Sakura took a breath.

"Sasuke-kun you my not think that you are lucky to have a big brother like Itachi, but I do. It's certain that you may not relate and maybe even quarrel at times, but that's just human nature. With a sibling you have the luxury of having healthy competition, something you don't get being an only child. I know you and Itachi don't get along very well, but even so I'm almost positive that he loves you very much and that he doesn't intentionally try to harm you. And I'm sure you love him too." Sakura stopped for a brief second. Her hands began to tightly clench her skirt. "I would have given anything to have been a sister," she said in almost an unheard whisper.

Sasuke could not see Sakura's eyes, he could only see a looming dark shadow. As he looked closely at Sakura's face her thought he saw a sparkling drop glide across Sakura's cheek and fall from her chin and land on her black skirt in between her hands.

'I'm such an idiot! I just upset her with my stupid ways of thinking! I truly am a monster, I hate myself for hurting her!' thought Sasuke angry at himself. Sasuke slightly scooted his stool forward, he then placed his right hand on her left shoulder. "Sakura, I'm sorry if my idiotic comments upset you." he said sincerely.

Sakura tensed up at Sasuke's touch. She then lifted her gaze and looked at him with a bright emerald eyes.

"I should be the one apologizing since I tried to force my opinion on to you," replied Sakura.

"It's completely alright Sakura since you are absolutely correct," stated Sasuke as he removed his hand.

Sakura was surprised. 'This is the first time Sasuke has acknowledged me for anything,' thought Sakura, the mere idea made her heart cheer up inside and which made her outer become smile become more tender.

"I'm glad you think so," said the girl as her cheeks became like two pink roses.

The dark haired boy only smirked.

After a short minute, Sasuke broke the silence."Um...Sakura, there's something I've been wondering for a while now," Sakura looked at him with attentive eyes. "It's maybe that I'm just unobservant, but have you been wearing that cherry blossom all day?" With his left hand he reached for the flower on the right side of Sakura's head, and with his fingers he gently brushed it.

"Oh, this," Sakura said as she touched her flower with her right hand a moment after Sasuke pulled his hand back. "Yeah, you're right I didn't have it all day."

"Where did you get it? If you don't mind my asking," questioned Sasuke.

" Well, I found it on my locker along with a note this morning," confessed Sakura. "I wasn't intending to put it on, but the other girls ambushed me and made me wear it."

"Ambushed you, huh?" teased Sasuke. "Don't you like the flower though? It looks good on you and they are really hard to find at this time of year."

"I do admit it's a lovely flower and all but... it was given to me as a gift by a total stranger and I'm not exactly sure how to react to that," stated Sakura.

"I completely understand what you mean," replied Sasuke.

Just then the rang, which implied it was time to leave. The two teens were having such a good time together that they had utterly lost track of time. All of the other students began rushing out the door.

"I guess that's our cue," proclaimed Sakura standing up. "I really enjoyed spending this time getting to know you better." She smiled once more, then she slightly bowed her head.

"Me too," replied the boy with a slight smile of his own.

Sakura grew happy at the sight of Sasuke's sincere smile. She pushed in her chair, then turned to go towards the door. As she rotated, her hair fluttered near Sasuke's nose, tickling it with the scent of cherries. 'Mmm. She truly is a cherry blossom,' thought Sasuke enchanted by the aroma.

'I wonder what Sasuke-kun meant when he said he understood?' pondered Sakura on her way to her next class. 'Does he means that he also doesn't know how to respond to the eminence amounts gifts he receives from his fangirls? Or is it something else?'

Sasuke slowly made his way towards the door, after the rest of the class left. 'Sakura, I understand that you might be uneasy to receive a _strangers_ gift, but at least now that stranger knows you like his gift and that is all that really matters to him.' thought Sasuke with yet another smile as he left the room.

**5.1's End.**


	26. Closer 3:6

**Broken Youth****  
><strong>_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_**  
>CH.3.6: Closer<br>**  
>A blond boy with three distinguishing lines across each cheek, would not stop fidgeting. He did not maintain his attention on his science teacher up front, he was tuning her out as he did normally without giving it a second thought. Instead of focusing on the teacher, the boy concentrated on the girl beside him.<br>The girl besides him did not look at him, for she was doing what she was suppose to and listened to the teacher; Even so the dark haired girl could still sense the boy observing her, and that made her a little nervous.  
>As soon as the teacher finished her instructions, the blond boy did not waste time to start talking himself. "Is not this great? You're my new lab partner, I just know we're going to have a blast working together! I was afraid I was going to get stuck with a complete weirdo, but fortunately I got you." he said with dorky grin.<br>"Um ... yeah?" replied the girl timidly, not knowing exactly what to say.  
>"So what exactly are we supposed to be doing now? I was not really paying attention." said the boy with a chuckle as I scratched the back of his head.<br>The girl patiently and without complaint thoroughly repeated the procedure in a way that fit the boy's comprehension. "... And that's all to it." Said the girl a few moments later when she finished restating the lecture.  
>"Thanks for explaining it to me. Sorry that you had to repeat the whole lecture just because of me," apologized the blue eyed boy.<br>"I-it's Completely fine," stated the girl waving her arms in front of her.  
>"Okay... Now what are waiting for let's start the game already!" stated the boy with exceeding energy. "I'll start, if you do not mind."<br>"G-go ahead," answered his partner.  
>"Thanks!" The blond boy jumped out of his seat. Took a deep breath before he starting his next statement. "I am Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha, 'ttebayo" he exclaimed with his thumb pointing at his forehead.<br>"Nice to meet you," responded the purple eyed girl as she stood up "My name is Hinata from the Hyuuga clan." She bowed her head after her rapid introduction. Her hands were near her chest, one on top of the other.  
>"Hinata-chan you do not need to be so traditional," suggested Naruto. "Oh, and one more thing. Try to have more, what's that word again? Oh yeah, convection."<br>'Huh? Convection? Oh, I think I means conviction. 'Thought the girl a little confused.  
>"Okay, Naruto-kun. I'll try my best to show you more conviction," Hinata replied with a smile.<br>'Oh It was conviction. Conviction, convection what's the difference? 'Naruto thought.  
>All of a sudden, something to their right caught both of their attention. It was the sight of Sasuke kissing Sakura's hand.<br>"Aw. Why Did not I think of doing something like that?" Stated Naruto outloud which made his blushing partner blush even more. Without thinking the his placed hand behind her neck which made massively blush.  
>-<p>

After the comotion of Sasuke's unexpected actions died down, Naruto and Hinata countined with their interview game.

"So why exactly do you want to be Hokage, Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata with real wonder.

"That's a very good question Hinata-chan," complemented Naruto. "As you probably already know, I am not a genius like that Teme Sasuke (pardon my language Hinata-chan); I never await to become one either. All I really want is to be known and respected like my father. I know that obtaining that isn't easy since I'm not the brightest guy out there." Naruto took a breath. "As you plausibly remember I few years back, I was the biggest troublemaker in the school. I was always playing pranks on people and getting sent to the principals office, but that was all done to gain my peers' attention. It turned out that way because I wasn't all that skilled in academics or athletics, I was just average. That being so I never got in the spotlight of glory, instead I usually ended up being the laughing stock. Back then I thought that the only way I was ever going to gain attention was by act like a fool. Even as the fool I didn't stop trying to better myself, so that one day I could surpass the geniuses. I didn't notice that all my efforts were being wasted because I wasn't give the 110% I thought I was (because the pranks were getting in my way and stealing my focus)." Naruto paused briefly. "A couple years ago I was challenged to master a technique in a weeks time. The challenger didn't think I could ever beat them, I kinda doubted if I could master it myself. A week later after working as hard as I could without rest I manged to beat my competitor who was 10 no 1000 stronger than Sasuke. That's when I truly realized that if I gave something my all I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. Starting there I began to change my ways, I've become less of a prankster and a more capable person; well more in athletics and the ninja arts more than anything, but I'm still making progress. I am no longer the D- student I use to be. I know if I continue improving myself like this, people will learn not to underestimate me, and I will surely become I great leader." Naruto was standing up in an almost fighting stance as he finished his run-on speech. "Sorry that you had to listen to my ramblings Hinata-chan. I know it was boring and got really off topic." apologized the boy sitting back down.

"No, it's fine Naruto-kun. I didn't mind hearing your story at all," answered Hinata warmly.

"You know, that's what I like most about you Hinata-chan. You are always so nice and patient with me no matter what." Naruto stated returning the warmness to the girl in more than one way. "So what about you Hinata-chan, what's your dream for the future?"

"Well, as the eldest daughter of the Hyuuga clan's head I am destined to became the CEO of my families enterprise, after my father retires of course." began Hinata as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Yet I don't feel I am the appropriate person for that job. I believe that someone that actually wants and has worked very hard for the occupation deserves it. Someone like Neji-nii-san."

'Neji, huh? I personally don't like his slightly snobby attitude, but Hinata-chan has a point, he is more suited to be a boss than I sweet girl like her,' thought Naruto.

"I know it won't be easy to grant my cousin his rightfully attained position, because of my clan's harsh concepts about the main and branch houses, but I'm I will not give up until those rules are revoked and we are all untied as a single unified clan, that has equal opportunity for all it's member not just a select few," stated Hinata.

"That is truly a large goal you are carrying on your shoulders Hinata-chan, but I truly believe you can achieve it. You will most definitely reach into the hearts of all your clans-people." stated the blond boy. "I still have a question. If you are not planning on becoming the CEO of your clan's company, then what do you really want be?"

"This my sound silly, but I've always wanted to become an elementary school teacher," stated Hinata. "Mostly because I want to be someone that influences the future generation in a positive way."

"That's not silly at all Hinata-chan. You would be an excellent teacher. If I was your student, you would definitely be my favorite teacher. You're perfect to become a teacher, you're kind, patient, understanding and pretty," belted out Naruto. His cheeks warmed when he realized what he said. "Pretty cool, that's what I meant to say." He lied. 'I can't believe I just called Hinata-chan pretty out loud,' he thought as he covered his mouth in embarrassment.

Hinata's face was blushing to it's limit and yet a small smile appeared on her lips.

After the awkwardness passed, the two teens continued the questioning game til the end of the period.

A redheaded girl with strangely styled hair and glasses over her red eyes had both her hands underneath her chin. She was not paying close attention to the white-haired guy beside her, but instead to a couple in the front row. She observed them from the corner of her eye.

In the beginning the white-haired, purple eyed boy to her left, rolled his eyes at her and wondered 'What is wrong with this woman?' yet he already knew what was wrong with her.

It wasn't long until boy got impatient of not doing anything, he suggested to the girl if they would follow the example of the class and play the 'Bonds' game. She ignored his request and told him to do it by himself. The boy being use to her neglect did as she told him, telling her he didn't mind talking to himself.

"I'm Suigetsu Hozuki..."stated the boy starting his monologue.

When the girl saw that the Suigetsu was actually going to talk to himself, she closed her eyes and sighed at his idiocy.

"Whoa! That's really bold of Sasuke," the girl heard the boy say while her eyes were closed.

'Huh? Sasuke-kun?' thought the girl quickly opening her eyes. As soon as she saw the sight that everybody else seemed to be staring at, she pounded her hands on the desk. 'That should have been my hand he was kissing!' she thought angrily.

Suigetsu turned to her partner with spiritless eyes. 'Karin I'm sorry, but it's already clear to me that Sasuke has already set his choice. I know Sasuke pretty well and he wouldn't do something like that with just anyone. I can tell he likes that girl, if I can clearly see that why can't you?' thought the white-haired lad.

Taking a breath Suigetsu ignored the scene and continued talking to himself.

'Her hand might gotten the first kiss, but my lips steal you first kiss,' thought Karin optimistically.

Almost half way through the period, the girl was still sulking over Sasuke's kiss. She still wasn't interacting with her partner. The information he was giving her was going in on ear and out the other.

"...as you can probably tell by now, my two favorite things are swords and water..." Suigetsu still talked.

'Sasuke-kun why did you have to do that? Why did you have to make me envy someone so much right now? ' Karin sighed and closed her eyes again to try to clear her mind.

"...my favorite foods are jello and yogurt because they are not quite solid," Karin heard Suigetsu say. "Yet they can't compare with how much I like watermelon."

'Watermelon?' thought the redhead.

"I love watermelon," whispered the girl without realizing it, she didn't know her partner had heard her.

'Why I am so surprised to have something in common with this dork? I'm sure we have more similar interest. Maybe I'm just afraid of actually getting along with this guy, but I guess it would be that bad since I am stuck with him all year... and he can't be all that bad if he likes watermelon.' Karin then turned to look at her partner, she was startled to see him looking back at her with an awkward expression on his face. "What?" she asked him her face getting crimsoned.

"Nothing," he returned shaking his head. "Just a little shocked find out that even polar opposites can something as simple as watermelons in common."

"Is there something wrong with me liking watermelons?" she asked snobbishly.

"No, it just caught me off guard," Suigetsu said. He slightly covered his mouth. "Especially since I didn't think you liked anything other than Sasuke." he teased her in a muffled tone.

The girl growled. "Whatever, anyway I'm now tired of hearing your annoying voice, so I'll talk about more interesting things, like myself," stated Karin.

The boy chuckled. 'I can't believe this is just the beginning of a long and interesting school year.'

"What are you laughing about!" exclaimed the girl.

"Nothing," Suigetsu replied.

"You're lying!" shouted Karin hitting him on the shoulder.

"Ow, I was not!" he replied. He purposely stepped on her toe.

* * *

><p><p>

* * *

>Bickering and quarreling was basically how the rest of the class end for those two. It was no different than how they normally acted towards each other. Even if it didn't seem like it with all the fighting, they both liked the fact that they at least one thing in common, no matter how small it was.<p><p>

* * *

><p><p>

A blonde haired girl with bright blue eyes couldn't stop smiling through her eyes as talked to the pale boy in front of her. As soon as the teacher gave them the signal to start the game, the girl hadn't stopped talking for more than a minute, she was like a parrot. The pale boy didn't mind all her chattering, he wasn't much of a speaker himself, being a person afraid of unintentionally offending someone (mostly because of it's consequences). Instead of talking the boy courteously listened to the girl at the same time that he doodled and took notes on her information.

It was now near the end of the period, the girl had explained many things to the boy, most of them pointless. The boy on the other hand hadn't really stated much about himself, well other than things she hadn't already known prior to the interview. The girl was really curious to uncover at least on of the many secrets surrounding her strangely mysterious/unknown partner.

"...So that's how I plan to achieve my dream career of becoming a world famous fashion designer while integrating it with my parents flower shop business."stated the blonde girl. "But enough about me. What about you Sai-kun what is your dream?"

The pale boy stopped writing and pondered the question for a moment with the end of his pen on his lip. "A dream? I presently don't have one in mind," he answered in a sort of monotone pattern.

"You said presently, so does that mean you use to have one?" asked the girl trying to squeeze out all the content she could.

"I guess, yet I didn't exactly think of it as a dream but more like a goal." stated the boy.

"What was it?"asked Ino eagerly.

"It was nothing more than to show my brother my first completed picture book," he answered.

"You have a brother Sai-kun?" stated Ino with surprise in her eyes.

"Yes, he wasn't my biological brother he was an orphan like me, taken in by Danzo-sama. So, he's my adoptive brother, his name is Shin," explained the boy.

'I wonder why I've never seen Sai-kun's brother before,' pondered Ino. "So did you accomplish your goal?"

Sai did not answer the question right away."No," he said softly.

"Why not? Did you still not finish your book?" asked Ino baffled.

"Yes and no," Sai stated which made Ino make the most confused expression he had ever seen. "I'll try to explain it as best as I can." He tried to give a smile but failed. "What I mean is that, I did complete as much of the book as I wanted my brother to see. A few pages were left blank in the book, but only because I wanted to save them to draw a special portrait for my brother... But... when I finally manged to get to that stage it was a little to late, Shin was already gone."

Ino looked at Sai with dazed eyes.'What does he mean by that? Does he mean that his brother abandoned him? Or that his brother...'

Sai saw the confusion in the blonde girls eyes so he set out to clarify everything."Shin suddenly died of an unknown spontaneous disease. His death came as a impact to me, because he didn't seem ill to me at all, he was always so full of energy and joy when he was around me."

"Oh, Sai-kun I'm so sorry, I didn't want to bring you back painful memories," Ino said placing her hand over her mouth trying to hide her sadness.

"Don't worry about it Ino-chan, I'm completely fine with it. Shin died almost eight years ago, his death doesn't really affect me anymore." assured Sai.

Even with Sai's resolve Ino's gloom didn't vanish so easily. She surprisingly remained completely silent for more than a minute. The death of Sai's brother was the missing puzzle piece that Ino's mind needed to solve part of the mystery surrounding him. With that new piece, more seemed to make sense to her; For example: Why Sai lost his emotion, Why he got home schooled around the time he said his brother died, and why he forgot how to smile.

Sai saw Ino's concern, he wanted to take it away somehow. He wasn't sure what to do, but then an idea popped into his head.

"Hey, Ino-chan would you like to take a look at the picture book?" offered Sai.

Ino quickly came out of her trance. "Of course I would Sai-kun!" she excitedly with a smile.

Sai pulled out a small book from his book bag and handed it to Ino. Ino thirstily took it and began to glance through it. She looked at each page thoroughly, the drawings were well made and they connected almost perfectly the following drawing with somewhat of a story flow. Near the middle of the book Ino came across the blank pages, what was odd about them was that the drawings continued after them but the story flow seemed to change. After Ino finished looking at drawings she returned to the blank pages at the center of the book and stared at them for a bit.

"It's a lovely book Sai-kun, Your drawings were amazing like all ways," complemented Ino. She looked back at the blank pages. "I'm sure your brother liked it! I'm also certain that he would have liked the final portrait no matter what it looked like because it would have come from your heart!" She lifted her gaze and gave him a bright smile.

After a moment Sai took the book from Ino's lap and began to depict figures on it with his pen.

"What are you doing Sai-kun?" asked Ino astound.

"These page have been left blank for far to long. You're right Ino-chan, Shin would have liked it no matter what was." He stated as he continued to create his picture.

When Sai finished the portrait, he handed the book back to Ino so she could analyze it.

"Your brother is probably smiling down at this picture right now," replied Ino with another smile.

"You really think so?" Sai said with a real heart filled smile appearing on his face.

Ino continued smiling as she nodded her head. Her cheeks slightly bloomed at the sight of Sai's real smile.

_ "It's almost time to go," stated Ino a while later.

"I guess it is," said the boy looking at the clock.

"We should probably wrap-up the game with a parting gesture," suggested Ino.

"Like what?" asked Sai confused.

"Oh, I got it," said Ino pounding her balled up hand into her opened one. Ino extended her right arm at him. Sai looked at her hand with a what-am-I-suppose-to-do-with-this gaze in his black eyes.

"You're suppose to shake it," said Ino lift her arm a bit higher.

"Oh, okay," responded the pale boy. Sai grabbed Ino's wrist and shook it back and forth.

Ino giggled. "Not like that silly," Ino stated. "Have you never shaken hands with someone before?"

Sai shook his head. "Then I'll just have to teach you," She said with a smile.

With her left hand Ino grabbed Sai's right hand from his lap, and connected it to her right hand. The action made both of them feel a little flushed. "Now you just shake hands," stated Ino as she did what she said. Sai followed her lead.

"I'm so glad you actually showed me some of your beautiful colorful emotion Sai-kun," she said with a grin as she continued shaking his hand.

"Thank you helping me finish my brother's picture book Ino-chan," she said giving her another real smile.

Ino let go of his hand and began to blush. "I did nothing really," the blue eyed girl replied.

The bell suddenly rang, it was time to leave.

"See you later Sai-kun!" waved Ino picking up her bag and heading out the door. Sai wove back at her as she rushed past him.

'You did more than you think Ino. You made me finally accomplish my expired goal,' Sai thought as he lifted his picture book and placed it back in his bag, with a smirk across his face.

**Fin 3.6**


	27. Closer 3:7

**Broken Youth**

_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_

**Ch. 3.7: Closer**

A droopy brown eyed boy, seated in the middle of the science room couldn't continue to maintain his wake-less eyelids opened, for much longer. His cheek rested in the palm of his left hand, which served as a nice cushion for his seemingly heavy head. He often leaned his spiky pony-tailed head back and yawned, but how could he not, the teacher's lecture bore him to death.

It didn't take long, for the boy's already heavy eyelids to feel heavier. He soon started drifting in and out of consciousness. Finally his weariness (or to put it in better terms his laziness) won him over and he began to fall into full slumber.

Just as the brown eyed boy, sunk into dormancy, he felt a sharp jab at his right side. His eyelids quickly flung open and his head automatically turned in the direction of the poke. The boy's eyes soon met with those of the girl seated beside him, and it didn't take him long to realize, that the girl had jabbed his lower rib with her elbow to try to wake him up.

The glistening green glaring eyes of the sandy blonde girl with four pigtails; Were directed at the sleepy-eyed boy beside her. The glare could have shattered even the toughest of guys' soul and given them unending nightmares. It might have even had the same affect on the slothful boy, if he hadn't already witnessed the same gaze a billion times before. In response to the glare, the boy only shrugged his shoulder as if saying. _Sorry, I couldn't help it._

The same occurrence took place a couple more times, the droopy eyed boy would begin to fall asleep, his emerald eyed partner would elbow his side to wake him. He'd look over giving her the same tired expression.

After a while the girl completely stopped the pattern, which allowed the boy to finally stick his head in the clouds. The boy's moment of peace was like a dream...but we all know how those usually end up...to good to be true. The boy had almost lost full consciousness when a loud, "Wake up sleepyhead!" rang through his right ear. His eyes opened as fast as lightning and he mechanically turned his head to the direction of the voice that disrupted his nap.

The boy being in a half asleep state, had blurred vision, it took his eyes a long moment to get rid of the fuzziness and focus. The first thing he saw as his sight regained were a twin set of turquoise spheres, which to him appeared to be floating in midair. As his eyesight clarified, he perceived that it wasn't spheres he saw, but a pair of eyes. He obliviously continued staring into the eyes in front of him, until he noticed what he was doing and averted his eyes. When his eyes changed direction, he made another discovery, that made his face redden more rapidly than it already had.

In the action of averting his eyes downward, he finally understood why the girl's eyes were right in front of him. The girl stood inches away from him with her upper body leaning forward. Her face so close to his, that her nose almost touched his. Realizing this closeness between them, made the boy very uneasy.

His discomfort made him want to inch as far away from the girl as possible. In order to do that, he pulled back his head and rapidly scooted his body to the left corner of his stool.

Moving away, soon turned out to be a task that he'd regret. The boy ended up scooting his body too far too fast, which in turn ended up making him lose balance on the stool and in conclusion he fell off.

The green-eyed girl stood helplessly as she watched the boy tumble before her eyes.

Even though the boy came crashing to the floor in the middle of the classroom, everybody, excluding the girl standing before him, seemed to be unconcerned of his fall. The reason for his classmates indifference, was their undivided attention to the awe striking occurrence taking place in the front of desks in the class.

"Are you okay!?" asked the sandy blonde girl frantically, as she rushed to him. She knelt down next to the tumbled body.

"I guess," replied the boy trying to lift himself up.

"Here let me help you," offered the girl. She placed her arm behind his back to support him as he sat up.

"Thanks." he replied. He instinctively lifted one of his hands and placed it on the point of impact.

"Are you sure you're okay? You might have a concussion. How many fingers am I holding up?" the girl asked rapidly. She moved into his line of sight holding up two fingers.

"Two," answered the boy in a slightly irritated tone as he pushed the hand away from his face. "I assure you I'm fine, it's nothing worry or overreact about."

"Me worry?" the girl sprung to her feet in laughter. "About you? You've got to be kidding me. I'm only worried about my grade which now requires your participation."

'_Is that seriously why she freaked out?_' thought the boy. '_Well, I'm not buying it. I know she is just trying to hide the fact that she is a lot nicer than she's willing to admit_.'

The boy rolled his eyes and began to lift himself up. Once he finished elevating himself off the ground, he picked up his stool and sat down. His body faced inward (towards the girl), but his face resting once again in the palm of his left hand, was turned towards the front of the class.

The girl followed the boys lead and took a seat as well, but she didn't avoid looking at him. After a brief moment of silence, the girl was the first to speak.

"I'm sure that throbbing little bump you got from that fall, will help you stay awake at least for the end of the period." she said with a giggle. "And it's a good thing too, or else I would have had to do it, and I wouldn't have gone so easy on you." She continued to laugh.

The boy didn't say a word or move a muscle. '_For the rest of the period! It's more like the rest of the day! I'll be lucky if I get any sleep tonight, with this aching bump._' thought the boy.

"But seriously," started the girl after she stopped laughing. "Why did you freak out like that all of a sudden? It's not like you never _met_ me before."

A cynical idea popped into the boys head. "Technically, I haven't," replied the boy without a twitch.

"What do you mean?You're joking, right? " said the girl with slight alarm coming across her green eyes. "Of course you know me! Are you sure you didn't hit your head too hard when you fell?"

The boy didn't say anything, he just turned to look at her and began to laugh uncontrollably. The girl stared at him with tremendous alarm.

"I don't see what you find so funny," said the girl. The boy couldn't stop laughing like a hyaena. "Okay, you're starting to scare me."

" If you don't explain yourself this instant, I don't know whether to hit you or to take to the nurse for help." threatened the girl when she reached her tolerance level.

The spiky pony-tailed haired boy, held up a finger which implied, that the sandy blonde girl should wait a moment until he could calm his laughter.

"It's not joke, nor because I hit my head," started the boy with some laughter still in his voice. "I was just following instructions." The boy pointed at the board at the front of the classroom.

"What?" replied the girl, looking at the board. "So, you made me worry for nothing!"

"I thought you said, you didn't worry about anything other than your grade," replied the boy in a teasing tone.

"That's what I was worried about," responded the girl.

"Right," said the boy rolling his eyes. The girl light punched the boy on the shoulder. "Ow!"

"Okay, that's enough lollygagging for one day," said the girl. "Let's get the interview game thing started before we run out of time and I don't get my points. So I can ensure that we don't waste anymore time, I'll start first. Or do you disagree?"

"It's fine by me," replied the boy. "Go ahead."

The sandy blonde girl stood up. She stared at her partner, until he gave her, his full attention. After gaining his undivided attention, she began.

"I am Temari Sabuku or Temari of the Desert as I'm know to others. I 'm the eldest and only daughter of the current Kazekage." announced the girl. "And you are?"

The boy stood up with a sigh, in front of Temari.

"I am Shikamaru Nara. Only child of the head of the Nara Clan." he declared.

"It's nice to meet you, Shikamaru," said Temari with a smile. She extended her right arm for a hand shake.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Temari," replied Shikamaru taking clasp of Temari's right hand, with his own. He shook her hand. Just as he wanted to pull away, Temari grasped his hand harder.

"Be a man, and shake it like you mean it," informed Temari.

Shikamaru did as she requested. He held Temari's hand with a tighter grip, and gave her hand a few assertive shakes.

"Happy now?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yes," answered Temari with a smile. She let go of his hand and sat back down.

Once Temari let go of his arm, Shikamaru turned his back to her. He shook off his hand and massaged it a little, Temari had such a strong grip on his hand, that he had felt it was going to fall off. After he finished tending his hand, he also sat back down.

When he sat down, he look over at Temari. He automatically saw that her attention was elsewhere. On two boys a few rows away, her brothers, to be exact. Shikamaru couldn't help but smile at Temari's compassionate side.

'_Even if you try to hide it from everyone, with that tough ruthless facade; I can clearly see, that you're a sweet caring girl underneath it all, that's afraid of showing any weakness. I only wish you would understand that there is nothing wrong with weakness, because in the end it could make us stronger._' Shikamaru thought as he continued looking at her.

"What are you looking at bub?" said Temari as she looked back at Shikamaru all of a sudden.

"Nothing," replied Shikamaru.

"Then stop wasting time staring off into space and let's continue with the interview." retorted Temari.

Shikamaru chuckled and shook his head.

"What's so funny?" asked Temari.

"Nothing," replied Shikamaru. "Let's just continue with the interview."

**Meanwhile at the desk behind them:**

"...And that's why Tsunade-sama has inspired me and is my idol. I know I can never be a great medic like her, because my skills in medical ninjutsu are the worst, but that doesn't stop me from trying to become a great kunoichi like her in my own way. That's why my lifelong dream is to become the greatest kunoichi in my own strength, weapon wielding."

"I didn't know you idolized Tsunade-sama so much, Tenten." stated the brown haired, purple eyed boy. Who sat to the left of her.

"Yeah, she's been my hero ever since a was little. She was the first to make me realize, that it didn't matter whether you were male or female, you could still leave a mark on this world." replied Tenten.

"But enough about that... I feel like I've hogging up the spotlight this whole time, why don't you tell me about your dream Neji?"

"I don't mind you taking the spotlight," answered Neji.

"You might not, but I do. Come on Neji, I want to know more about you," said Tenten in complaint. "Besides it's only fair, I told you my dream, and that was a little embarrassing."

Neji sat quietly for a moment debating in his mind whether or not to comply with her request. His mental query was settled when Tenten brought out a tactic that never fails, the famous puppy-dog eyes. Tenten's gaze was so hypnotic that Neji had trouble trying to look away.

"Oh, okay, you win," said Neji giving in. "I'll tell you, but promise not to laugh."

"Okay, pinky promise," said Tenten smiling of her success. She extended her hand to him, with her pinky being her only lifted finger. Neji had no choice but to accept it.

"Yubikiri" Neji and Tenten both stated as they finished sealing the pinky promise with three shakes of their wrists.

'_I wouldn't have laughed even if you didn't make me promise Neji,_' thought Tenten as she unhooked her pinky from Neji's. '_I believe dreams are to be taken seriously no matter how impossible they may seem.'_

"So now that we settled things. You can start telling me." stated Tenten.

"All right, but I'm not sure where to start?" said Neji.

"Just start from the very beginning," suggested Tenten with a smile.

"That's easier said than done," replied Neji in a murmur.

"Just explain what you can, I'll try to follow along the best I can."

"Okay, the beginning..." he thought aloud. After a second he took a long deep sigh and began to explain. "You are familiar with how strict and traditional my clan is, right?"

Tenten nodded her head.'_Of course I am! I still remember the first time I went to the Hyuuga house without Neji as an escort. I went through an extensive interrogation with the doorman (which was more like a guard-dog) and I would have gone through an exaggerated search of my belongings, if Neji didn't come in the nick of time_.'

"My family has always been strong in their discipline on tradition with no tolerance of change. One of the sternest traditions is the separation of the main house and the branch house." Neji took a brief pause in his continuation. "As you already know I was born a member of the branch house. The reason , simple, my father was born a few minutes too late."

Neji looked profoundly at Tenten (who was following Neji's explanation attentively), for a instant, before sighing once more and resuming his explanation.

"My father followed the branch house standards with dedication and without any resent against the main house. He worked hard his entire life, serving the main house without complaint, and for what? Nothing! The entire main house couldn't even acknowledge any of his accomplishments he did for them as important." said Neji with a mixture of sadness and anger in his voice. "I find it unfair how my clan grants automatic special privileges to those that were lucky enough to be born first. Instead of rewarding the privileges to those who really deserve and worked hard to gain them."

Neji took another pause, to pick out right words to express how he felt.

"Being a first-hand victim of this unfair tradition, makes my motivation to stop it, a whole lot stronger. My dream is a simple one, but that won't be simple to attain; My dream is to have equality amongst all my clans-people, and abolish all the inessential traditions once in for all." declared Neji. "I know the task won't be easy to accomplish and might have to face it alone, but that won't stop me from trying my utmost to achieve it, even if it ends up being the last thing I do."

Tenten remained silent after Neji had finished explaining.

"You know Neji I'm sure your not alone in your aspiration," Tenten said in a quiet murmur, which caught Neji by surprise. "I'm almost 100% positive that Hinata-chan feels the same way and would gladly be willing to help you!" Tenten said with more convection. "And if I'm wrong (which I highly doubt it), you still won't have to face you task alone because...you can always on _me_ for support...and of Lee and Gai-sensei as well."

"I suppose you right Tenten," replied Neji with a slight smile on his face. "...Thank you for understanding...and keeping you promise."

"No problem," replied Tenten with slight blush on her cheeks.

Once again Neji and Tenten grew silent.

"You know Tenten, I just noticed something," said Neji breaking the ice.

"What?" she replied turning her face slightly to see him.

"You always wear you hair up in buns," Neji said as he obliviously reached for one of the golden ribbons, that encircled and dangled from her pink bun covers, and rubbed it in between his thumb and forefinger.

"Yes?" she said confused. She lightly blushed at his contact of her lace ribbon.

"Why do you wear it that way?" he asked. He stopped stroking the ribbon with his fingers and dropped his hand to his lap.

"Oh, just to keep it out of my face and to avoid getting it caught when I'm using artillery." she answered. "Also I like the way it looks."

After a pause, Neji asked,"Now that I think about it. I don't recall ever seeing your hair down or in any other fashion, in all the time I've known you."

'_Hmm. You're very observant, I didn't even notice._' thought Tenten.

"So how long is it?...Your hair if you were to let it down?" Neji asked.

"Um...well it's definitely not as lengthy as your majestic mane." Tenten responded with a giggle. "I'd suppose that it's a bit below my shoulders."

"I think it would look cute if you wore it down sometime," Neji thought accidentally murmured aloud. When he realized his slip of the tongue, his face transformed into a bright crimson color, and he inverted face away.

'_I can't believe I said that,_' thought Neji with discomfit. '_There is no doubt she heard_.'

'_Huh? Did I just hear Neji use the word 'cute'? And not only that, but he used it to describe me? Or am I jut imagining things?_' thought Tenten also with a reddened face.

For a long time Neji and Tenten stayed still. Eventually they both looked at each other, to try to say something, but all they manage to do was open there mouths, when the bell rang. At the sound of the bell they both sprang out of there seats, while still looking at each other.

"It was nice conversing with you Neji," Tenten manged to say. She bowed her head afterward.

"With you as well Tenten," replied Neji mimicking a bow.

"Um, see you later," they both said in sync as they left in the opposite direction.

They said there farewell as if they wouldn't see each other in some time, when in actuality they would see each other very soon. Next period to be precise.

'_If I'm lucky Tenten won't make anything of my accidental comment. She probably already completely forget about it._' Neji thought as he headed out the door.

'_Maybe I should try to wear my hair down someday,_' thought Tenten, as she joined with her friends in the hall, with a smile on her face as she twirled the same strand of ribbon that Neji had touched earlier.

**End of 3.7 & chapter 3.**


	28. U Can Do It 4:1p:1

**Broken Youth**

_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_

**Ch. 4.1.1:U Can Do It**

The last couple classes flashed by. The class that followed (for most of the students that exited out of Lady Chiyo's science class) was art. Art was taught by Jiraiya, a perverted old hermit, yet a very respectable man. Jiraiya didn't seem like the adequate person to teach art, and truly that assumption was correct. Skillfully he was more suitable for being a Literature teacher; he had manged to publish a few books in his life time (one of them a masterpiece and the rest...well, the readers can decide that on their own). In the end the only characteristic that made him an decent art teacher, was his appreciation of art in whatever form it came in. Other than that he was basically an amateur, which the students could easily surpass in skill.

Following art was the last class of the day (excluding ninja arts(that was canceled that day) which was more like training than an actual class). The last class was P.E which was taught by the eccentric over-energized Maito Gai. He made every activity from the start of his class to the end of it, an exercise challenge. For example: All the students had to dress down into their gym clothes and be in the gym within a minute (from when the last bell rang) or else they would have to do some bizarre exercise, while doing a lap around the track.

It was a good thing for the students, that Gai didn't teach that that class period alone. He was accompanied by Yamato, the student teacher, and who students called: Yamato-taichou. Yamato taught with Asuma half the day (for the wood shop part of his class) and with Gai the rest of the day. He didn't hesitate to stopped Gai before he went a bit too overboard with his exercises, and the students were very grateful for it. Yamato for the most part was a nice guy, but someone whose evil glare you wanted to avoid, because of its nightmarish affect.

The P.E class had already ended and the students were back in the locker rooms, changing back into there uniforms and recovering from the overexertion of the class activities.

**Girl's Locker Room:**

Konan who had P.E that period, along with the other members of Akatsuki; Stood in front of her locker dressing back up.

"So Sakura, is it true that you got kissed by Sasuke-kun?" Konan asked Sakura, with her back turned to her. She hadn't had time to ask her sooner.

"What? You know about that!" exclaimed Sakura. She stopped halfway (almost getting stuck) in her blouse as she put it on.

"So. It's true?" replied Konan, putting on her vest.

Sakura pulled down her blouse, her face was reddened with embarrassment.

"Where did you hear that?" asked Sakura.

"The gossip is spreading all over the school, I don't think this is one soul left that doesn't know about it." answered Konan. "But that's still not answering my question of if it's true or not."

"It's true, I saw it with my own eyes," said Ino, who stood besides Sakura. "I was only a few rows back, when it happened!"

"Wait, so your saying he did it during class?" asked Konan confused. She turned to face Ino.

"Yup." replied Ino, fixing her skirt. 

"What are people doing kissing in the middle of class?" exclaimed Konan.

"Well, we were playing a game-" answered Ino.

"What sort of game? Spin the bottle!" replied Konan interrupting her.

"No-" Ino began before getting interrupted yet again.

"Enough Ino! You're only making matters seem worse with your explanation!" Sakura said in almost anger.

"I'm sorry Saku-chan, I was only trying to help," said Ino with a pout.

Sakura took a deep breath.

"I know, but the way your explaining it to Konan..." Sakura's voice became a whisper. "Made it sound like we were making out in the middle of class."

"So, what really happened?" asked Konan still confused.

"Well, we were all playing an interview game in Chiyo-baa-sama's class." stated Sakura. "When we were introducing ourselves, he knelt down and kissed my hand."

"So, it was only your hand?" replied Konan. As she was putting on her bow.

"Yeah?" replied Sakura. "What have you heard?"

"Let's just say... the rumors were blown a bit out of proportion." answered Konan. Fixing her hair.

"What!" cried Sakura, banging her head on the locker. "Why is this happening to me?"

"You should be happy it even happened to you," muttered Karin under her breath, who was eavesdropping from a distance.

"I still find it weird that he did something like that." said Tenten joining into the conversation.

"Tell me about it. It's so unlike him. I still can't believe it really happened." answered Sakura rubbing her forehead.

"I still can't believe I missed it," said Temari, while putting on her shoes.

"I can't believe it wasn't me," whispered Karin, leaning cross armed against the locker.

"It looks like someone's still jealous," teased Shion as she approached Karin. "I would be too, if I were in your shoes, but luckily I'm not."

Karin remained silent.

"You know, you should teach her a lesson," said Shion.

After a pause Karin answered. "Even if it kills me to say it, I can't."

"Why not?" asked Shion.

"Sakura is not to blame, she did nothing, Sasuke-kun is the one who kissed her." replied Karin "The only one I can blame is my lousy fate. Besides, that little kiss on the hand meant nothing."

"Thinking so naively, is only get Sasuke-kun stolen from you," said Shion shaking her head.

"That's not going to happen," said Karin enraged.

"Think as you like. Just don't come crying to me when it becomes reality." snickered Shion.

Before Karin could retort, the bell rang. Everyone began exiting the locker room and heading to the auditorium. Karin followed the crowd (behind Shion), with a frown on her face and her arms still crossed.

**Sometime Earlier in the Boys Locker Room: **

"I still can't believe you did that, Teme," said Naruto to Sasuke. As his head popped out of shirt, which he had left buttoned.

Sasuke ignored him and continued putting on his shirt.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" yelled Naruto.

"I don't understand why you're making such a big deal over something so trivial," replied Sasuke.

"I am, because it is a big deal! What you don't realize is how many guys wish, no dream, to be in your shoes right now."

Sasuke did not reply.

"You kissed Sakura Haruno," Naruto said. "_Sakura Haruno!_" he emphasized. "And you didn't even get punched!"

"It was just a little touch on the hand, again it's no big deal," replied Sasuke.

**A row of lockers back: **

"Did you hear that? Sounds like the rumors that been going around are true," said Deidara as he nudged Sasori with his elbow. "Which means I was right about you having some competition after all."

Sasori did not respond.

"And what makes matters worse, is that you competitor (Itachi's little brother, like a predicted) is a bit conceited. Even I wouldn't take it for granted, if I manged to get my lips on that babe." continued Deidara.

"As I said before, I'm not worried," said Sasori in a calm and collected manner, as he put on his jacket. "The '_competition_' doesn't intimidate me."

_'That Uchiha Jerk! How dare he be so full of himself, when it concerns Sakura!' S_asori really thought, silently grinding his teeth.

"So, why did you do it?" asked Naruto. "And don't tell me it's none of my business."

"No reason, Itachi-nii does it all the time." Sasuke said putting on his black overcoat. "It shouldn't be any different if I do it."

"But it is!" expressed Naruto. "Because that action is so unlike you!"

"Yeah, whatever," said Sasuke walking away from Naruto.

"Hey, don't walk away from me!" said Naruto about to go after him. "I'm not done with-"

"You!" said a voice behind Naruto, which kept him from advancing forward.

Naruto turned around and saw Kiba."First you steal my seat at lunch and then you steal my dog's food-"

"Hey, I've already told you, that spot's not yours! It has my name on it!" said Naruto. "What do you mean? I didn't take your dog's food!"

"Don't lie! Hinata-chan, being the sweet girl that she is, apologized to me. She told me that she had saved some scraps, for Akamaru, but had to give them to _someone_ who didn't eat lunch." replied Kiba.

'_...Oh, wait this about the sack of food Hinata-chan gave me? Now it makes sense why she called it scraps,'_ thought Naruto.

"How do you even know it was me?" said Naruto.

"I know, because you didn't have lunch. Plus Hinata-chan would definitely have given you the food," answered Kiba.

"That's not even good enough evidence," said Naruto. "... yet in my defense, I would I want to say it was delicious."

"So, you admit eating it!?" said Kiba, getting up in Naruto's face.

"So, what if I did!?" replied Naruto, doing the same to Kiba.

("So you think you can always do and have whatever you want, huh?" replied Kiba, but was muted by the ringing bell).

"Oh, I couldn't hear that dog-breath." Naruto moved away from Kiba, with his hand cupping his ear. "That's too bad," he said sarcastically. "but I guess it's time to go. We wouldn't have time to finish this stupid argument. What a shame." shrugged Naruto as he walked toward the exit.

"I'll get back at you someday, Naruto, for always taking what is rightfully mine. Just you wait."

Naruto turned back his head."What ever you say, Poochy-boy."

Kiba growled in anger. He slammed a locker with his fist, making them all rattle. After letting out his bottled up steam, he followed Naruto and the other boys to the auditorium.

**In the Auditorium: **

The Konoha Academy auditorium was an enormous facility, it was about the size of one, in an average opera house. It had three levels, one on every floor of the main edifice (the high school building). Each level was full of dozens of rows of seats, and each level was designated to a different school rank (elementary, middle and high school). The top level, was where the high school kids usually sat, during all school assemblies; but on days when a guest speakers came, they sat on the bottom level.

They sat on the bottom level because they were the only ones in the auditorium. The reason why they were alone, was because the different school ranks were isolated on these occasions. They were separated for two reasons;1) so the guest speaker wouldn't get overwhelmed by thousands of kids, and 2) to make the presentation a bit more of a personal experience with the students.

The students that had just left the locker rooms, ended up sitting towards the middle section, of that bottom level. It was a good thing for the members of the Akatsuki, because it was the perfect location for them to be seated; they could easily keep an eye on all the students, because they had 360° vision on them from the inside.

The locker room boys sat in the rows in front of the girls, because they got there first.

"I hope the guest speaker isn't an old geezer," yawned Deidara. "Because that would just bore me to death."

Deidara sat in the last row of boys, that arrived from the locker room. He sat towards the middle of the row and was seated between Sasori (to his right) and Naruto (to his left).

"I just hope the presentation starts on time," replied Sasori, sitting with his arms crossed.

"Of course, you're the only one that would wish that," stated Deidara. "I only wish it ends soon, I have things to do, and babes to see."

Sasori rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Naruto bounced eagerly in his seat, waiting for the assembly to start.

"Why are you so excited?" asked Sasuke, who sat on the other side of Naruto.

"I can't tell you, or else it'll ruin the surprise," answered Naruto.

"Whatever,"said Sasuke, turning his attention to Neji, who sat to his left.

"Hey, did you notice that your rival is sitting only a few seats away?" whispered Deidara in Sasori's ear. He had right hand cupped over his mouth. "And that your beloved cherry blossom, is seated right behind us? Well, technically behind me."

"Grrr! Can't you just shut up and drop it already!" exclaimed Sasori, stomping on Deidara's toe.

"Ow! Sheesh you don't need get so upset," said Deidara, grabbing his stomped toe. Sasori glared at him for his remark.

**In the meantime in the row of seats behind them:**

"I really hope the guest speaker is a girl this time," said Tenten. She ended up in a seat between Temari and Hinata.

"Me too," answered both Temari and Sakura simultaneously. Sakura sat on the other side of Hinata.

"If it's not a girl," said Ino. "I at least wish it's a cute guy." Ino replied. Who sat by Sakura.

"I thought you were over your boy-crazy phase," said Sakura.

"Oh, I am," reassured Ino, with a nod. "I just think it would make the presentation more bearable."

Sakura shook her head in shame.

**Backstage:**

A tall blond man with spiky hair, peeked through the curtains to his loud young audience. He wore a white overcoat with a red flame design and letters running down its back.

"This is the third time I'm presenting today, and I still don't feel an less nervous than the first," said the man, looking away from the curtain, and turning around.

"Don't worry honey, you'll do fine," said a long red haired woman. She gently touched the blond man on the cheek with her right hand. "You're probably just anxious because this time, you have to present in front of our son and his friends."

"Yeah," the man said with a sigh. "...I'm afraid, I'll be an embarrassment to him."

"Don't say that, dear." she replied, as she tenderly gazed into his eyes. "Our son admires you very much. There is no way he'll ever be embarrassed of you."

The man smiled. "I guess you're right." He placed his left hand, on the hand the woman had on his cheek. "Thank you for the pep talk, dumpling."

"My pleasure, my love." she smiled and kissed him. "Just remember, if you ever get stuck during the presentation, quickly come get me and I'll gladly assist you," she said taking a step back.

"Sure thing, love," he said with a grin.

Microphone feedback sounded on stage and echoed throughout the auditorium. It made everyone cover there ears.

The feedback soon went away and was replaced by the loud voice of Tsunade that boomed through the microphone. "Settle down, ladies and gentlemen," she said in the middle of the stage. "It's time to start the presentation. Today's guest speaker is an extra special person in this village."

"I guess that's your queue," said the redheaded woman backstage.

"Let me introduce you to-" began Tsunade.

"I guess it is, wish me luck," said the blonde man with a wink, as he vanished from backstage with a yellow flash.

**To be continued...**


	29. U Can Do It 4:1P:2

**Broken Youth**

_**(Life of Konoha Academy Teens)**_

**Ch. 4.1.2:U Can Do It**

"Let me introduce you to Konohagakure's Yondaime Hokage." announced Tsunade. At that moment a yellow flash went vertically across the stage and ended at Tsunade's side. The yellow flash had transformed into a blond man with his back turned to the audience; he wore a white cloak with red letters running down it and red flame embroidering the bottom.

The audience was caught by surprised; never in all their years of school assemblies, had a guest speaker done a flashier entrance than the one he just did.

After their brief shock and when their jaw-dropped faces wore off, the crowd began to clap and cheer like never before, and even gave a standing ovation. The applause gave the man on stage a little relief from his earlier nerves.

When the cheers didn't seem like they would ever cease, Tsunade made a loud coughing sound through the microphone that got everyone quiet and back seated. She then handed the mic to the man and walked off to the side of the stage. He took a long deep breath and sigh while scratching the side of his head, before he turned to look at the audience.

"Um, well..." he began. "Good afternoon, students," he tried to give a smile as he waved at the audience. "Thank you all for the warm welcome you all gave me..." he paused to think of what to say next. " My name is Minato Namikaze and I'm the fourth hokage of the village hidden in the leaves, but you probably already knew the last part, because your lovely principle Tsunade introduced me as such. But there is really no need to remember my name you can all refer to me as Yondaime Hokage if you like."

There were lots of girls that were already fangirling over Minato, just because of his spectacular entrance, but once they saw his face the numbers grew. Even some guys became instant fans, of his sheer awesomeness.

"I hadn't really had the time to completely look around this enormous school of yours in years, until today," he said beginning a new topic. "Of course, it's gotten bigger and been through a lot of remodeling since my first days of teaching here, around 20 years ago."

The most crowd gasped at his last statement, and began to murmur things like:

"He was a teacher here?"

"Whoa, but he doesn't look a day past 30."

"I wish he was my teacher."

"I wanna look that good when I'm his age."

"I'm flattered that some of you think I'm younger than I am, but I'm truly not as young as I look, I actually have a son that's around your age, he's seated amongst you as we speak." stated Minato. "If you need more proof of my years just ask Kakashi. He was one of my first students, when he was a bit younger than the majority of you."

The students all directed their attention to Kakashi who was seated front and center, amongst the students and other staff and which the spotlight was now directed on. "Do you really have to put me in the spot like that Minato-sensei?"muttered Kakashi, face red with embarrassment.

"Don't be embarrassed Kakashi, besides I wouldn't give up the chance to show off one of my most gifted pupils," replied Minato with a chuckle.

"Thank you Sensei, but," answered Kakashi. "there was really no need to."

"Oh, don't be so modest, Kakashi!" Minato said with a wink. "And if you guys think that's surprising, Did you know that Jiraiya-sama, your art teacher, was my Sensei when I was a boy."

"Thanks a lot Minato you blew my cover, now they'll never believe I'm 25 years old," Jiraiya said jokingly with a chuckle.

"You haven't changed a bit Sensei," Minato said shaking his head while he laughed as well. Minato took a brief pause before continuing. "Of course, I was taught a lot differently back in my day, but enough of making myself look old, how about I start telling you what you really want to hear. For example how I became Hokage..."

Minato talked about his experience during the last Ninja War, How he got his alias: The Yellow Flash (of the Leaf) and How he was chosen to become Hokage of the new era by the previous Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi (who after stepping down as hokage, took a less stressful job as Konoha Academy's superintendent).

Minato had been talking for about half an hour when he suddenly took a long pause in his speech. After a moment of awkward silence Minato cleared his throat and said: "You're probably tired of listening to my rambling by now. How about we all take ten before I continue?"

The audience looked at each other confused, they weren't bored at all, it was actually quite the contrary, they were really enjoying his presentation and wanted to hear more. The audience expressed their interest in his presentation by trying to pep him into continuing.

"I'm thrilled that you are so enthusiastic, but even if you guys want me to go on I can't, I really need to take a break to go to the restroom," Minato said scratching his head, a bit embarrassed.

The audience expressions quickly change. The crowd was either laughing or giving themselves a facepalm.

"Okay, so you guys now have a ten minute break, I suggest you use it wisely, and something like stretch or take a trip to the restroom as well," stated Minato. "If you have nothing to do during the break, don't fret because I assure you the wait will be worth it, because after the break I have a couple surprises in store for you, as well as the easy tips to becoming Hokage," he explained. "Okay, be back in a flash!" he stated as he vanished backstage in a yellow flash.

"Good a break! I really needed one I was beginning to get as stiff as one of you puppets, un," said Deidara to Sasori as he twisted in his chair to pop his back.

"My puppets are not stiff! They are as maneuverable as a human body! Or maybe even more!" exclaimed Sasori. "How can you be so thrilled about an intermission? I thought you had 'babes' to see or something."

"Whatever, they can wait a bit longer, besides this guy is pretty interesting, un." answered Deidara rolling his neck. "Also I can take a few pointers on how to continue being a chick magnet even at his age."

Sasori rolled his eyes and face palmed while shaking his head in disapproval.

As Sasori expressed his disgust, Deidara continued stretching in his seat. He stretched his arms by lifting them high to the sky or in this case the ceiling. On their way up his hand came to a halt when they bumped in something or more accurately a pair of somethings. Without bothering to look up, Deidara let his hands investigate what the foreign objects were instead, cupped his hands around the blocking objects and without a second thought he pressed down his fingers around the objects to get a better feel.

'It's squishy? Huh?' Deidara thought as his fingers applied pressure.

**A bit earlier (in the row of seats behind):**

"Aw. An intermission, but it was just getting good!" complained Ino.

"That's a first, usually you're dying for an intermission, Blondie," said Temari with a snicker in her voice.

"Well, I have to say it's very understandable, Mr. 4th Hokage is very charismatic and what he talks about is very interesting," reasoned Tenten.

"Your just saying that because he happened to talk about your favorite subject, weapons," countered Temari.

"Yeah, that's true, but I thought the rest of his topics were interesting too," answered Tenten.

"Okay!" said Ino standing up getting the attention of all her friends. "Forget my last statement, I'm kinda glad there's a break now, because I need to go to the restroom. Now, who wants to come with?"

"I'll go," volunteered Hinata raising her hand.

"Good, anyone else? This is your only chance until the assembly ends," Ino reminded.

"I don't really need to go, I'll go with you. I kinda need to stretch." Sakura said turning her head in the direction of the restrooms and standing up, at that moment something touched her chest and a moment later she felt a slight pinch.

"Kyaa!" Sakura yelped at the pressure that had gotten heavier. Sakura looked down at her her chest and saw Deidara's disgusting, perpetrating, groping hands. Sakura instantaneously became red, both of embarrassment and anger.

After hearing the squeal, Deidara turned his head up to see Sakura standing behind him. His hands dropped down faster than lightning. He also began to slouch into his seat.

"Oh Uh," he said when his brain finally realized what he had been doing, he continued slowly melting in his seat. Everything around Deidara seemed to be going in slow motion, he could even swear he saw his life flash before his eyes as he saw the enraged Sakura ready to strike. The girls around Sakura where trying vainly to calm her down.

Sakura began to slowly and angrily state Deidara's name as she charged up her super punch.

"I'm sorry Sakura, I swear it was an acci-" Deidara said before the impact. "-dent," he finished as a projectile struck his face.

Sakura manage to say "Dei...dar...ahh!?" before she grew silent and froze like everybody else around Deidara's radius.

Sakura had not hit Deidara, her fist was still in the air, and it slowly fell down to her side as she saw the scene in front of her.

Something had hit Deidara's right cheek and hard, so hard that Deidara even blacked out for a second. When Deidara regained consciousness the fist that had struck him was still at the point of impact, while Deidara's face was turned away from it. When Deidara rotated his face to see the fist that struck him, the fist ended up being millimeters from the tip of his nose. Deidara followed the fist to see Sasori, who had punched him without even looking, as if it were a reflex.

"What the heck, man!" screamed Deidara, breaking the silence, grabbing his injured cheek with hand. "What was that for?"

Sasori put down his fist and turned to glare at Deidara. "Do you seriously need to ask?"

Deidara was without words, yet his mouth was desperately trying to make some, making him mumble senseless gibberish. As Deidara was trying to collect himself from the shock he was still in, someone behind Sasori had tapped his shoulder. Sasori turned his head to see Sakura bowing.

"Thanks, again, for 'saving' me from that creep," she lifted her head and looked over at Deidara. She then straightened herself up from her bow. "That's twice in one day, you really are my hero, Sasori-kun!" she smiled.

"You're welcome, just doing my duty," said Sasori returning a half-sided smile. Sakura and Sasori maintained eye contact for a long moment.

"Sakura!" said Ino, breaking Sakura's stare, making Sakura blush as she turned to look at her. "Hello, restroom, still going? We don't have much time left."

"Uh? Yes," replied Sakura.

"Then let's go, now," Ino said grabbing her arm and pulling her.

"Okay, okay, I'm going no need to be so pushy."stated Sakura.

Sakura, Ino and Hinata quickly left to the restroom.

"What a great cousin," mumbled Deidara sarcastically with somewhat of a lisp. His right cheek was already swollen to the size of a baseball. "Going to the restroom is more important, than healing her poor beat up cousin, un."

"I wouldn't have let her heal you even if she had offered," said Sasori turning to look at Deidara.

"And why not?!" Deidara yelled angrily at him.

"Quiet down! You're causing a scene."

"And like your punching didn't, un," he retorted in a restrained, yet still loud tone.

"I think, I might not have punched hard enough, because your mouth still seems to be working just fine."

"You know, I would have rather taken the punishment from Sakura-chan," stated Deidara with a huff.

"You can't seriously mean that? I saved you from a far worse world of hurt, and you know it first hand."

"Well, that maybe true, but I'm sure her hand would have been softer, and not felt rough like your hand that was like being hit by a 2 by 4, un."

"I'm sure Sakura-chan's punch would not have been any lighter, now stop your whining and next time remember to keep your hands to yourself."

"Fine, there is no point in talking to you anyway, you won't listen," huffed Deidara crossing his arms and making his face pout. "Plus this whole stupid thing was all a big misunderstanding, un."

"Whatever," said Sasori turning away his face.

"Are you okay, dude?"asked Naruto who sat to the left of Deidara. "Your friend sure gave you quite a punch."

"How can you call that jerk, my friend, after what you saw him do to me?" exclaimed Deidara.

"Even if you don't think it now, or ever, he really did save you a mortal punch from Sakura-chan. In all my times of seeing Sakura pissed, and I have had my fair share, I have never seen her as angry as I saw her just a few minutes ago, and I have made her super mad countless times. I'm pretty sure, you would have been a dead man or at least a faceless man, if it weren't for your friend over there," commented Naruto.

Deidara glanced over at Sasori. The two guys ended up making eye contact. Deidara quickly jerked his head back to Naruto with a loud huff.

"Yeah, right, un," he said sarcastically with his arms crossed tight against his chest.

Sasuke sat irritated in his seat, he fiercely tapped his toe. The same words kept repeating themselves inside his mind. '_If only I had been one seat closer!_' Sasuke had been ready to pounce and give Deidara his just deserts, but Sasori had beat him to it. 'I would have hit him 1000 times harder!' thought Sasuke. He kept running the same scenario in his head, of what would have happened if he had been the first to strike. Sakura would have been thanking him, instead of that redheaded akatsuki, Sasori.

The words Sakura had told Sasori seemed to be recorded in Sasuke's mind, and were making him uneasy. What did she mean that Sasori had saved her twice today? And since when had the two been so close, that Sakura was now referring to him as Sasori-kun? What annoyed Sasuke more than the words was the look they gave each other before Sakura left.

All the piling thoughts of what actually happened, and what could have happened were making Sasuke angrier by the second. His frustration would soon be manifested on the outside, and he didn't want that to happen at all, he didn't want people asking him what was bothering him, and ultimately, realizing his jealousy. So, to calm himself took a few deep breaths, and tried thinking of more pleasant thoughts. Why was he getting so flustered over this incident anyway, oh yeah, because one guy inattentively victimized his most precious flower, while the other was seen as a hero in her eyes.

Sasuke took a few more deep breaths, this time with his eyes closed. The visions he recollected while his eyes were closed, brought him peace and a small smile to his face. Sasuke remembered the beautiful crimson of Sakura's cheeks when he had kissed her soft hand, not to long ago that day. Also the thought of her still wearing the cherry blossom he had secretly gifted her that morning, made him ease up. With all his pleasant memories now in his mind, he gave a happy grunt before opening his eyes and returning to his unagitated state.

Sakura, Ino and Hinata made it back to their seats just in the nick of time.

"I'm back!" stated Minato appearing on stage. "Did you miss me?" he said jokingly. "So, are you ready for one of my surprises?"

The audience answered eagerly.

"Okay, then, well here," he said making yet another yellow flash backstage and back. "It is!"

**To Be Continued...**


End file.
